No health risk for consumers from Bisphenol A exposure - the BfR endorses the conclusion of the new EFSA assessment

In January 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a new opinion on the assessment of the health risks associated with Bisphenol A (BPA) in foods and from other, non-dietary sources. In this opinion, the EFSA experts conclude that based on the current scientific evidence and given the current levels of consumer exposure, BPA does not pose a health risk for any age group. This also applies to unborn children, infants and young adolescents. New data and more sophisticated methods have led the EFSA experts to significantly reduce the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for BPA - from 50 micrograms per kilogramme of bodyweight per day (μg/kg bw/day) to 4 μg/kg bw/day. In view of this new assessment, the highest estimates of the exposure derived from foods alone or in combination with other sources (diet, house dust, cosmetics and thermal paper) are 3 to 5 times below the new TDI value. Uncertainties regarding possible health effects of BPA on the mammary gland, the reproductive, metabolic and immune systems and in relation to neurobehavioural disorders have been analysed and taken into account in the calculation of the TDI. The TDI must be seen as a temporary value as long as the results of a long-term study on rats, a study which aims to eliminate those uncertainties, are still pending. The BfR welcomes the fact that extensive data from Europe was taken into account in the exposure calculation and, given the uncertainties of the overall BPA data situation, endorses the derivation of the new temporary TDI.