Bisphenol a detected in almost all Europeans’

AFP  :
Bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical used in food packaging, is present in almost all Europeans’ bodies, posing a potential health risk, the European Environment Agency said Thursday.

“A recent Horizon 2020 research initiative, HBM4EU, measured chemicals in people’s bodies in Europe and detected BPA in the urine of 92 percent of adult participants from 11 European countries,” the agency wrote in a new report.

The Copenhagen-based EEA said the share of adults exceeding the recommended maximum levels ranged from 71 to 100 percent in the 11 countries studied, referring to levels outlined by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in an April review.

The EFSA at the time drastically reduced the recommended maximum daily intake of BPA allowed for consumers, slashing it by 20,000 times to 0.2 billionths of a gram, down from four millionths of a gram.

BPA, once used to make baby bottles until it was banned in Europe, the US and other nations a decade ago, is still used to make plastic for some food and drink packaging, meaning that most people are potentially exposed to it while consuming food and drink.

Research has suggested it is linked to a range of health disorders linked to hormone disruption, such as breast cancer and infertility.

France is the only country to have entirely banned BPA.

The EU and US have limited its use and have flagged that they plan to reduce it further.

But there is disagreement over the tolerable daily amount of BPA that can be consumed over a lifetime without posing a risk to human health.