There is a flood BPA-free products. These assorted water bottles and food containers have surged to market prompted by a fear that bisphenol A (BPA) used in making some types of plastic bottles and coatings can leach out to be consumed. Now, the same technology that has permitted the detection of illegal drugs contaminating essentially all circulated currency has now been applied to find minute amounts of potentially toxic compounds in food, beverages or water stored in common containers. Recent studies confirmed that behavioral changes occur in children whose mothers had BPA in their blood during the first trimester of gestation. And another major source of environmental BPA has been found in cash register and credit card receipts.
BPA in Polycarbonate Plastics and Plasticizers
Bisphenol A, as the name indicates, consists of two phenol groups linked together. Phenol, also called carbolic acid, was one of the first operating room antiseptics and is still used in the form of Camphophenic. Millions of tons of BPA are produced each for the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and as an antioxidant in plasticizers to make other plastics less brittle. The vast majority of the BPA that goes into these plastic polymers never comes out again, but if these plastics are repeatedly heated, small amounts of BPA can leach out.
BPA Causes Developmental Changes in Laboratory Animals
The BPA scare came from recognition that BPA was able to interact with animals in the same way as steroid hormones, i.e. BPA has slight estrogen activity. There was evidence in laboratory animals that early development was particularly sensitive to BPA. Subsequent studies showed that many women had BPA levels that were sufficient to cause developmental changes in laboratory animals.
BPA Found in Water
Sources of contaminating BPA were originally found in water and a major source of contamination was waste water from paper recycling, particularly recycling of thermal printer paper. Polycarbonate, which is made from BPA, and other plastics which use BPA as an antioxidant in their plasticizers were initially considered safe, because the BPA is polymerized into the plastic itself.
BPA Free Baby Bottles, Water Bottles and Food Containers
Greater scrutiny showed that small amounts of BPA leached from some plastic baby bottles, water bottles and the plastic liners of canned foods and there was public fear that alteration of sexual behavior at any level was not to be tolerated. There was a call for the complete removal of BPA from all baby bottles, pacifiers and products used by babies. The health/exercise community shunned water bottles potentially tainted with estrogen-mimicking BPA.
BPA during Gestation Changes Sexual Development of Children
A recent study provided evidence that women exposed to BPA during their first trimester can give birth to children with altered sexual development. Measurement of the stereotypical sexual behavior of the children showed that the girls displayed more boy-like behavior and the boys had behaviors that were statistically more similar to girls. Moreover, the shifts in behavior was dose dependent, so that the mothers with more BPA in their blood had children with more profound alteration of the sexual behavior. It was also troubling that some of the women had BPA levels thousands of times higher than their peers. The source of the BPA was unknown.
BPA Is Used in Thermal Printing of Cash Register and Credit Card Receipts
The source of high contamination with BPA may be thermal printing paper. BPA is coated on paper that produces colored markings when heated. The amount of BPA on some cash register and credit card receipts is staggering. In some cases a receipt from a cash register can contain 100 milligrams of free BPA. The amount of BPA that can leach from plastics is millions of times less.
Handle Receipts with Care
The uproar over nanograms and micrograms of BPA leaching from water bottles took place while millions of people casually handled receipts with thousands of times higher concentrations of BPA. Parents shudder over the prospect of a baby picking up a used cigarette butt, while a receipt on the floor may pose a more dangerous health threat.