ANSES highlight BPA health risks

By Mark Astley

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Bisphenol a European food safety authority

Bisphenol A molecule
Bisphenol A molecule
A report by the French Agency for Food Health Safety (ANSES) has highlighted apparent health risks from exposure to bisphenol A (BPA).

BPA, which is used in polycarbonate types of hard plastic bottles and as a protective lining in food and beverage cans, has a confirmed effect on animals and a suspected impact on humans.

French ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet called the details of the report, “troubling”.

She is calling for a, “systematic labelling of products containing BPA when the product comes in contact with the public.”

The ecology minister has also said she will propose a ban on BPA for specific products, such as those used by infants and pregnant women, whenever a viable and safe BPA alternative is found.

Review findings

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have promised to “liaise”​ with the French food safety watchdog following the report.

EFSA last updated their advice on BPA in September 2010, at which point they concluded that they could not identify any new evidence to confirm the toxicity of BPA.

EFSA told FoodProductionDaily.com, “EFSA and ANSES liaise very closely. EFSA has received ANSES reports on BPA and will be analysing the data contained in those reports in coming days. EFSA is always ready to consider any new relevant findings which become available.”

“Different interpretation”

However the Polycarbonate/BPA-Group (PC/BPA) have been quick to play down the report.

PC/BPA’s Jasmin Bird said, “Without having had the time yet to read the full report in detail, we must assume that ANSES has made a different interpretation of the existing data on BPA than the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and other regulatory authorities, which concluded that exposure to BPA from food contact materials in very low and poses no risk to human health.”

“We are surprised to see that ANSES has seemingly placed significant weight on studies that use non-oral exposure routes, such as subcutaneous injection, as a basis for their assessment.”

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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