Canada is to formally declare bisphenol A hazardous to human health and officially inform the baby-product industry it will no longer be able to use the chemical in baby bottles. In unveiling the “precautionary and prudent” move, Health Minister Tony Clement proposed a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and the lining of food cans. The government’s final decision will appear in the Canada Gazette, which publishes the official regulations of the government.
“Bisphenol A exposure from Can Coatings in Drinks” Health Canada
Health Canada has conducted the study into 22 soft drink and 16 beer samples as part of its on-going programme to investigate potential human health effects of BPA and boost its understanding of popular exposure to the substance.
BPA was detected in 20 of the 38 soft drinks and beers with levels of the chemical below the detection limit of 0.0045 µg/L in the other 18 samples. Bisphenol A was not detected in any glass bottle soft drink samples and only in one soft drink PET sample at a level of 0.018 µg/L.
All soft drink can samples were found to contain levels of BPA ranging from 0.019µg/L to 0.21 µg/L. Low levels of BPA were similarly detected in all beer can samples – ranging from 0.081µg/L to 0.54 µg/L. The chemical was also found in one bottled beer sample at a level of 0.054 µg/L.
According to Health Canada “The presence of BPA in canned beer samples and its absence (or lower level than canned) in bottled beer samples suggests that migration from can coatings is a source of BPA in canned beer products. The absence of BPA in surveyed plastic and glass bottled beverage products, and its presence in all of the corresponding surveyed canned beverage products, suggests that migration from can coatings is a source of BPA in canned beverage products.”