On March 6, 2024, a group of 40+ international scientists, led by Frederick vom Saal from the University of Missouri, submitted a comment to the EU public feedback period on bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) in food contact materials. The comment is based on the authors’ investigation, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, into the conflict between regulatory agencies over the 20,000-fold lowering of the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for BPA by the European Food Safety Authority in April 2023 (EFSA; FPF reported).
Traditionally, regulatory agencies like EFSA and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have relied heavily on industry-funded studies conducted under standardized protocols, often overlooking findings from academic research. However, EFSA’s recent reassessment of BPA adopted a more comprehensive approach, incorporating both industry and academic research in a transparent manner.
The article scrutinizes the rationale behind the resistance of agencies like the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and FDA to EFSA’s revised TDI for BPA. By identifying the flaws in their assumptions and advocating for the integration of 21st century scientific methods into regulatory frameworks, the authors seek to foster a more rigorous and collaborative approach to chemical risk assessment.
The opposition to EFSA’s revised TDI for BPA raises questions about the adequacy of existing regulatory practices in addressing emerging concerns related to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), the scientists argue. While industry-funded studies have historically shaped risk assessments, the exclusion of non-guideline academic research may overlook critical evidence on these chemicals.
The authors strongly endorse EFSA’s revised risk assessment of BPA, citing the strong scientific evidence on the chemical’s hazardous and endocrine disrupting properties on human health and environment at even very low concentrations, and hope that EFSA’s new risk assessment sets a new precedent for other regulatory agencies to “bring rational, science-based chemical regulation into the 21st century.”
Reference
Frederick S. vom Saal et al. (2024). “The conflict between regulatory agencies over the 20,000-fold lowering of the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for bisphenol A (BPA) by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).” Environmental Health Perspectives.
Frederick S. vom Saal et al. (2024). “Feedback from: University of Missouri-Columbia MO, USA” European Commission
