Bisphenol A, also known as BPA, is primarily used to make polycarbonate plastic, which is a clear, shatter-resistant material used in consumer products you possibly use every day. It is also used to make epoxy resins, which are used in many tough protective coatings.
You’ve possibly heard of it before – it is covered in the news every now and then, with articles calling into question its safety. Before you consider avoiding CPA based on attention-grabbing headlines, here are five important things to take away about BPA:
Many consumer products today are safer and more effective thanks to BPA.
Polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin have unique attributes that help provide the high performance you expect in many consumer products. Durable auto parts and building materials, sports safety equipment, life-saving medical devices, and plenty of other products depend on high-performance materials made with BPA.
For example, polycarbonate plastic is used in eyeglass lenses because it’s highly shatterproof, clear as glass, and light in weight. This allows for thinner, lighter lenses that are more snug to wear. It is also used in safety equipment such as sports helmets and bullet-proof armor as a result of its strength, sturdiness and shatter resistance. And, when a protective epoxy coating is used in cans, BPA supports food safety and quality by helping protect food from contamination.
BPA has been used and studied safely for many years.
Polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins have been used safely in many consumer products for more than 50 years. Because it’s used so widely, the security of BPA has been studied extensively by scientists, and BPA is probably the most tested chemicals today. A long safety track record for polycarbonate and epoxy products, combined with extensive scientific data on BPA, provides assurance that products produced from polycarbonate and epoxy resins continue to be safe to use.
“BPA-free” products aren’t any safer.
Because BPA is a crucial ingredient in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, it’s impossible to manufacture these materials without BPA. Given the long track record of BPA safety and the high performance of these materials, it is going to be a challenge to find alternatives that are safer and can provide the same high performance.
It is not surprising that alternatives to BPA aren’t approximately as well-studied as BPA is probably the most studied chemicals in the trade. Additionally, government agencies all over the world have unequivocally concluded, after extensive review of scientific records, that BPA is safe to use.
BPA exposure is very low.
While products containing polycarbonate and epoxy are quite common, very little BPA is contained in the products we use. In fact, the small amount of BPA that we can consume, largely through our normal daily diets, is far below—over 1000 times below—the safe limit set by US government agencies based on extensive scientific reviews. You’d must ingest about 1,300 pounds of food and drink that comes in contact with polycarbonate each day to exceed the government’s safe intake limit. In addition, our bodies quickly process and remove the small amount of BPA it’s exposed to within 24 hours.
Governments all over the world, including the FDA, confirm its safety.
In recent years, government agencies all over the world have carefully reviewed the scientific evidence on BPA to determine if it’s safe to use. Based on science, the FDA answers the question “Is BPA safe?” with an unambiguous answer – “Yes.”
Most importantly, the complete series of studies conducted by the FDA, including the biggest ever conducted on BPA, provides strong evidence that there isn’t any risk of health effects from BPA at levels consumers are normally exposed to. And the FDA is not the only government agency to come to this conclusion. Leading international food safety agencies, amongst others, including the European Food Safety Authority, Health Canada, and New Zealand Australian Food Standards, have also evaluated the science on BPA and independently reached the same conclusion with the FDA.
While you may see headlines and social media that worry you, there is no need to worry about BPA – in fact, BPA plays a sizeable role in making the products we depend on safer and more effective!
Keep yourself informed and get more facts about BPA by visiting www.factsaboutBPA.org.
Article provided by BPT
