EFSA Gives BPA All-Clear

EFSA:  22nd October EFSA published a statement on its review of BPA in the light of the JAMA paper making no change to TDI limits in the absence of a 'causal link' between BPA levels measured and the medical disoders described.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) received a request on 29 September 2008 from the European Commission requesting an assessment of the implications to the hazard and risk assessment of bisphenol A (BPA) of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on 16 September (Lang et al.,2008), correlating urinary BPA concentrations to medical disorders in adults.

The former EFSA Panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food (AFC) carried out a comprehensive risk assessment on bisphenol A (BPA) in 2006 and set a full Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 0.05 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day. EFSA concluded that this single study does not provide sufficient proof for a causal link between exposure to BPA and the health conditions mentioned in the study, i.e. heart disease,diabetes and elevated liver-enzyme activities. 

Therefore, EFSA considers that there is no need to revise the TDI as derived by the AFC Panel in 2006.