Where is BPA found, and what are the implications?  It’s long established BPA can leach from the plastic lining of metal food containers and polycarbonate storage containers, specifically when cleaning with abrasive chemicals, strong detergents, or when containing hot temperature or acidic fluids.

Bisphenol A In Processed Food And Polycarbonate Wrapping

BPA is a typical compound used to protect the inner surface of cans ahead of sealing with processed foods or drinks.  This is done to prevent the food from touching and reacting because of the metal within the can, and it will help to keep microbes, penetrating via perforations in the metal, away from the food item.

A Canadian health study revealed minor but quantifiable amounts of Bisphenol A in a preponderance of canned soft drinks evaluated.  The Public Health University of Texas, in a recently available research study (in 2010), found Bisphenol A in more than 50% of a diverse array of canned or otherwise packaged foods examined; both for people and for pets.  Food items testing affirmative ranged from infant formula to green beans, dog foods, cat foods, and even unprocessed poultry. 

The Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), a monthly journal posted from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in collaboration with several other government departments, not long ago issued a 2011 study called, “Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-Ethyhexyl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention.”  To look at the involvement of food packaging to exposure, they tested urinary BPA and phthalate metabolites just before, during, and right after a “fresh foods” dietary intervention.  They picked 20 participants in 5 families based upon self-reported usage of packaged and canned food items.  In short, the members consumed their customary diet, followed by three days of eating “fresh foods” that were not packaged in plastic or canned, and then returned to their typical eating habits.

Following the fresh foods intervention the investigation discovered, on average, reduced levels of BPA by 66%.  On the high end of the range they found a decline of 76% of BPA measured compared to former concentrations. Because the subjects reported limited use of plastic water bottles, frozen prepared food products, and microwaving in plastic, their food practices suggested that canned food products and drinks and restaurant foods were the most likely reasons for exposure to DEHP and BPA. They determined that DEHP and BPA exposures had been drastically decreased when participants’ diets were restricted to food items with limited packaging.  The study includes a quotation from an earlier investigation in 2008 estimating noticeable concentrations of BPA in urine samples in more than 90% of the U.S. populace.

Bisphenol a Exposure Via Polycarbonate Plastic Bottles

Another EHP research study published in 2009 concluded that drinking from polycarbonate bottles elevated BPA levels measurable in the urine by two thirds.  A BPA free Camelbak Water Bottle can make a big difference in solving this.

Bisphenol A Exposure From Water Pipes

The path of Bisphenol A doesn’t stop in supermarkets or even in the pantry and refrigerator.  In older buildings Bisphenol A, in the form of an epoxy resin, has been used as an internal coating to extend the service lifetime of pipes delivering hot and cold running water to workers and residents.

Bisphenol A Exposure From Certain Kinds Of Paper

An additional troublesome source of BPA can be found in carbonless copy and thermal papers.  The concern is that direct exposure is likely to come in higher doses because the BPA is loose, not bound into the molecules of the paper, the way it is in polycarbonate plastics.  It doesn’t need to leach out in order to contaminate you.  All you need to do is touch it.  If your fingertips are wet when you touch it, you can expect to pick up ten times more BPA than with dry fingertips.  There isn’t really a worry of it entering through your skin, but a rub of your mouth, a sandwich out while you shop, or enjoying popcorn in a movie theater might be all you need to ingest a whopping dose of it.  Movie tickets, receipts, product tags, as well as airline tickets are frequently printed on these kinds of paper.  Free form BPA can easily transfer from movie ticket to hand;  from hand to popcorn;  from popcorn to lips.

Why Not Get rid of Bisphenol A?

Regardless of the controversy over BPA, there is data to indicate that consuming food out of cans treated with an epoxy resin is comparatively safer than eating food from cans without this protective layer.  That narrow discussion does not, however, account for other additional sources of BPA exposure.  Even assuming the ‘safer’ assertion is valid, with respect to canned foods, a difficult question still remains: should we all be drinking and eating habitually from canned and BPA laced food packaging at all? 

This doesn’t have an easy answer in the fast-paced ready-made world of today.  For now it is up to individuals to decide.  Where you work, where you live, how you shop, entertain, drink and eat are all aspects that can affect your risk of exposure.  . 

Certainly a retail cashier who hands a receipt printed on thermal paper to every customer is at risk of increased exposure when compared with a life guard on the beach.  That is, of course, assuming the life guard does not stay replenished with water drinking out of polycarbonate water containers all day long.  The point is that behavior and habit are important factors just as are environment and situation. 

Dosage matters.  Almost everything is toxic at high enough dosages; even vitamin A.  The worry in the minds of medical researchers is not whether Bisphenol A is toxic.  It is toxic. The concern is whether it is hazardous even in very low doses over extended periods.  For now that’s still a topic of research and debate.  The most simplified conclusion one can draw is that ingesting less of it is good; more of it is bad.

Is it possible to eliminate exposure to BPA completely?  For a lot of us the answer is most likely not.  In many circumstances awareness, just a little creativity, and a modest change in habits can go a considerable ways in reducing potential exposure.  Understanding where BPA exposure is likely can be a valuable tool in deciding for yourself and your loved ones whether, and how, to reduce your exposure to this pervasive industrial chemical.

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Source:  Where Is BPA Found