A study reveals that all adults in the EU have bisphenol A in their bodies.

As explained by NGO Hogar sin Toxicos these initial results reveal that “all adults analyzed in Europe have the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in their bodies”. Additionally, 50% of the people analyzed will also have the presence of other bisphenols, such as BPS and BPF (sometimes in high concentrations), which are increasingly used to replace BPA.

These are the results after performing a total of 2,756 tests on individuals from 11 countries, in what is considered a representative sample of the entire population. Carlos de Prada, Director of Hogar sin Toxicos, considers it “disturbing” that, as stated in the aforementioned European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, “all European samples taken exceed the concentration that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) currently considers recommendable,” last December. After a month, he finally decided to take the scientific evidence into account, proposing to lower the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of the substance to less than 100,000 times.

Attempt non-toxic home“Despite the past years, the European population is still at constant risk of exposure to relevant levels of BPA, according to data from HBM4EU,” said a report-recommendation 10 years ago that asked authorities to ban the substance in all food contact materials.

All this, he adds, “Years and years passed when only very limited measures were taken to reduce exposure to the substance.While banned only in bottles in the EU, as in 2011, it continues to allow for broad exposure of the population, such as pregnant women, through the presence of the substance in many canned foods.

Bisphenol A has been associated with neurodevelopment, low birth weight, effects on immune development, infertility, obesity, and an increased risk of metabolic disease, hormone-dependent cancer, or cardiovascular disease.

European biomonitoring data continue to show that BPA levels are higher than some of the substances used to replace it, such as bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF). Increasing concentrations of these latter substances is also of concern, as they may have some effects similar to those of bisphenol A. The HBM4EU document, for example, mentions the concern caused by cashiers being thermally exposed to paper tickets with the substitute. BPS.

cocktail effect

On the other hand, the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative also states that the “cocktail effect” of different bisphenols to which a person may be exposed at the same time “because BPA substitutes appear to exert similar effects to BPA”, so that they can add their effects to the effects of this substance. They cite research showing that “combined exposure to bisphenols and other chemicals in Western countries is associated with reduced semen quality.”

As reported by Carlos de Prada, “the scientific community is convinced that these pollutants, like other endocrine disruptors, can cause adverse health effects at very low concentrations. In addition, they are substances for which a concentration level that can be expressed as absolutely safe cannot be clearly determined.”

Recently, European Commission publishes Roadmap for restriction of many toxic substances and here, among other things, joint restriction or prohibition of different bisphenols has been proposed.

It is a large group of more than 200 substances, of which at least 37 according to experts may have hormone-modifying properties and therefore cause adverse effects at very low concentrations. The best known of these substances is bisphenol A, but science has found that some bisphenols used in its place can also be problematic.

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