In an article published on June 15, 2018, by environmental news and information service ENDS Europe, journalist Robert Hodgson reported on attempts of plastic manufacturers to ease restrictions on the use of bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7).

Under EU current law, BPA is banned in food and drink containers for use by infants; its specific migration limit (SML) from plastic FCMs, varnishes and coatings has been set to 0.05 mg/kg food in February 2018 (FPF reported). France has imposed a unilateral ban on BPA (FPF reported).

Based on the results of the draft CLARITY-BPA core study from February 2018 (FPF reported), Stephen Hentges, head of the polycarbonate/BPA global group at the American Chemistry Council, judged that BPA is safe and that existing experimental controls were inappropriate. Jasmin Bird, head of PlasticsEurope’s task force on BPA, questioned the application of EU’s precautionary principle for BPA because enough data are available.

Although the draft report is only one part of the broader CLARITY-BPA study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also stated that the results support its position that BPA is safe for food packaging (FPF reported). However, in a second part of the CLARITY-BPA project, 14 academic studies investigate other, potentially more sensitive toxicity endpoints related to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and various cancers. Publications of these results are ongoing. A spokesperson from the Endocrine Society recommends awaiting these outcomes and comparing them to the endpoints looked at by the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) (FPF reported).

The final CLARITY-BPA core study is due for publication in August, and the publication of the conclusions of the overall program is scheduled one year later. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is planning to incorporate these results in its ongoing assessment (FPF reported).

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Robert Hodgson (June 15, 2018). “Plastics industry seeks relaxation of BPA rules in light of US study.ENDS Europe

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