Study reconfirms bisphenol A safety, says industry

In separate statements Plastics Europe (PE) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) used an identical phrase to hail the research as a “significant development in better understanding the safety of BPA”.​

The study, entitled In Utero and Lactational Exposure to Bisphenol A, in contrast to Ethinyl Estradiol, Does not Alter Sexually Dimorphic Behavior, Puberty, Fertility and Anatomy of Female LE Rats, ​was published in this month’s Toxicolical Sciences journal. The study was sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Study method and findings​

In the paper, researchers fed BPA to female rats during pregnancy and lactation at dosage levels between 40 and 4,000 times above estimated median human consumption. The female offspring were studied for effects on behaviour and reproductive function with no effects from exposure to BPA detected. In contrast, the estrogen ethinyl estradiol (EE2) had significant effects on the rodents.

The study demonstrates “the sensitivity of the study and the validity of the results for BPA”, ​said an ACC statement.

The study concludes: “The lack of effect of BPA on female and male rat offspring after oral exposure to low doses in our studies is consistent with the lack of adverse effects on growth, vaginal opening, fertility and fecundity of low doses of BPA in several other robust, well designed, properly analyzed multigenerational studies (Cagen, et al.,1999; Ema, et al., 2001; Tinwell, et al., 2002; Tyl, et al., 2002).” ​

Sound science​

Plastics Europe said the new data bolstered support for recent assessments from regulatory bodies around the world that determined BPA is safe for food contact applications.

“Sound scientific review must continue to be the foundation of regulatory assessments and political decisions”,​ said Jasmin Bird of Plastics Europe.

Steven G. Hentges, of the ACC, said: “This new rodent study, funded and conducted by EPA, finds that low-dose exposures of bisphenol A (BPA) showed no effects on the range of reproductive functions and behavioural activities measured. Well-conducted, peer-reviewed studies such as this provide the basis for reasoned government assessments and regulatory decisions.”​

Results questioned​

But the US-based consumer body Consumer Reports’ Urvashi Rangan, Ph.D, questioned the findings of the EPA study.

“It is not surprising that the authors did not find effects from BPA because this study used a specific type of rat (Long-Evans) that has been previously shown to be insensitive or unresponsive to low-dose exposures to BPA and even typical birth-control dosages of synthetic estrogen, which was used as a control in the experiment,”​ he said. “The insensitivity to both was confirmed again in this study. In other, more estrogenic-sensitive lab animals, BPA has been shown to cause adverse effects at BPA dose levels used in this study​.”