In a 2009 episode of The Simpsons, Marge Simpson baked what she considered the ultimate healthy, socially conscious, safe snack food: “homemade, organic, nongluten, fairtrade zucchini cupcakes.” Proudly presenting the cupcakes to her daughter’s playgroup, Marge was asked what kind of butter she’d used. “None!” she exclaimed; she had baked the cupcakes in a nonstick pan. But Marge’s beaming pride quickly dissolved into embarrassment when she learned of her apparent eco-stupidity. Marge didn’t know that nonstick pans were made with PFOA (perflurooctanoic acid). “There is only one thing more dangerous than PFOAs, Marge,” one mother declared. “Plastics made with BPAs. Never, ever let your child near any product with the number 7.” At that moment, a child tips a cup up to his mouth revealing the number 7 on the bottom of the cup. The mothers scream in unison and run hysterically out of the house. Bisphenol A (or BPA) had become a three-letter household word. The chemical, used for over a half-century in plastics, was now at the center of a contentious scientific and political debate as well as fodder for prime-time cultural satire. Was BPA safe? On the one hand, a growing number of researchers, championed by environmental and health advocates, point to a growing body of research suggestive of serious health risks of BPA. This includes animal research on low-level effects of BPA exposure on prostate and mammary gland development and neurobehavioral function and development; a small but growing body of epidemiological research on BPA exposures and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and social behavioral problems; and evidence of widespread, low-level human exposure including in pregnant women (vom Saal et al. 2007; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2008). On the other hand, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its counterpart in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority, maintain that the levels in food are low enough to be considered safe for all humans.
Investigation of the migration of bisphenols from baby bottles and sippy cups
