Survey confirms low BPA exposure levels in food packaging

Today's supermarket survey of a handful of canned food products by the Breast Cancer Fund offers further confirmation that only a very small amount of bisphenol A (BPA) is found in food packaging, and those levels are well within the safety recommendations of government agencies.

This latest small sample survey provides no new scientific evidence regarding the safety of BPA once it enters the human body. Of much greater relevance to those concerned about BPA exposure are the findings of a recent government study conducted by a team of scientists from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This comprehensive, first-of-its-kind clinical exposure study, funded entirely by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), offers definitive evidence that even the highest exposure levels of BPA from canned foods and beverages did not lead to detectable amounts in the human blood stream.

"The EPA-funded study emphatically showed there is not a health risk from BPA exposure in canned foods because of how the body processes and eliminates the compound from the body, in children as well as adults," said Dr. John M. Rost, Chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, Inc. (NAMPA). "Unlike the supermarket survey, the EPA study examined what happens to BPA once in the body, and found that the human body is remarkably efficient in metabolizing and eliminating the chemical through urine. In sum, it is very unlikely that BPA could cause health effects."

"The BPA exposure levels cited in this latest supermarket survey are very consistent with similar, but much broader surveys of packaged food conducted within the past year by government agencies, including the FDA and Health Canada," continued Dr. Rost. "The only difference is in the conclusions reached. Based on their survey results, both FDA and Health Canada concluded that current exposure through canned foods does not pose a health risk to consumers, including newborns and infants."