The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering whether to carry out toxicity testing and environmental sampling for Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in the manufacture of many consumer goods, that animal studies suggest can disrupt normal growth and development by interfering with hormone levels.The agency announced on Tuesday, 26 July, that it will be requesting public comment on the matter.
The assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention at the EPA, Steve Owens, told the press:
“A number of concerns have been raised about the potential human health and environmental effects of BPA.”
“The data collected under the testing EPA is considering would help EPA better understand and address the potential environmental impacts of BPA,” he explained.
BPA is used in the manufacture of a wide range of consumer goods, such as the plastic lining of food cans, polycarbonated plastic bottles and containers, epoxy coatings and paints, and thermal papers (such as those used in some cash register receipts).
The EPA estimates that more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kg) of BPA is released into the environment every year, and describes this latest action as part of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s:
“… comprehensive effort to strengthen EPA’s chemical management program and assure the safety of chemicals that Americans encounter in their daily lives.”
In March 2010, the EPA issued an action plan itemizing the steps the agency is considering with respect to the risks of BPA. The testing discussed in this latest announcement is in that list.
More information on that plan, and a link to where the public can comment on their proposals, can be accessed on the agency’s BPA action plan website. Public comments must be received no later than 26 September 2011.
On the action plan website, the agency explains how animal studies have revealed BPA to be “a reproductive, developmental, and systemic toxicant”, and that there are “questions about its potential impact particularly on children’s health and the environment”.
“Studies employing standardized toxicity tests used globally for regulatory decision-making indicate that the levels of BPA in humans and the environment are below levels of potential concern for adverse effects”, say the EPA, but, more recent studies using low-dose methods and looking at other endpoints “describe subtle effects in laboratory animals at very low concentrations”.
These are of concern because the low doses used in those more recent studies are on a par with some current environmental levels “to which sensitive aquatic organisms may be exposed”.
But, the jury is still out on those studies, say the EPA, explaining that regulatory bodies worldwide have questioned their methods and that other scientists have not been able to replicate the results. But nonetheless the questions they raised were enough to cause some authorities to take measures, especially to protect children and infants (eg Canada banning BPA in baby bottles).
More recent studies have also reported a link between phthalates, BPA and thyroid hormone levels in humans, that mice exposed to BPA become less masculine, and that BPA can lower male fertility.
Meanwhile the EPA and other agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are already collaborating on further research to evaluate the effect of BPA exposure on human health.
This follows the FDA’s announcement early in 2010 that it will be investigating the potential health consequences of BPA and to reduce exposure to the chemical in the food supply, which is where most Americans will come across it most often.
When that research concludes, the EPA will then assess whether more actions will be needed to address non-food sources of exposure.
Sources: EPA, MNT archives.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD