EU continues to allow bisphenol in baby dummies

According to EFSA, the exposure of the human foetus to bisphenol A would be negligible because the mother rapidly metabolizes and eliminates this substance from her body. This conclusion is in contradiction with basic pharmacokinetics knowledge.

At a time when the Canadian government seeks to ban bisphenol A (BPA), especially in baby items, EU authorities appear to want to look the other way. Research commissioned by the group Antidote Europe has revealed the toxic potential of BPA, and the group is therefore dismayed that the EU authorities choose to ignore the health warnings associated with cancer and endocrine disruption.

Based on studies conducted in rats, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published 23 July 2008 what it considers to be a “Tolerable Daily Intake” (TDI) of the chemical, at 0.05mg per kilogram of bodyweight.

Despite acknowledging significant differences between humans and rodents, EFSAapparently chose to ignore data on BPA obtained in human cells, which Antidote Europe presented to it in May, to bring the TDI figure more into line with data relevant to humans.

In support of its recommendations, EFSA stressed the fact that “people metabolize and excrete BPA far more quickly than rodents”, and concluded that “the exposure of the human foetus to BPA would be negligible because the mother rapidly metabolises and eliminates BPA from her body”. This suggests that rapid metabolism of a chemical provides protection against adverse effects. However, many prescription drugs are also metabolized quickly in the body and eliminated in a matter of a few hours, yet are able to exert powerful pharmacological effects on the body.

We would therefore urge EFSA to base its recommendations on the risk posed by BPAto humans, on data obtained from human cell cultures to begin with, using methods that are now well established, in place of unreliable animal tests.