Dear Friends, mungkin di Indonesia istilah BPA free belom beken kali ya. Tapi disini di America sudah sangat terkenal dengan product-product BPA free, sejak diketahui kalau ternyata BPA tersebut berbahaya bagi hormon di tubuh sejak tahun 2007.
Apa sih itu BPA? BPA atau Bisphenol-A is a hormone-disrupting chemical considered to be potentially harmful to human health and the environment. It has been known that scratched and worn polycarbonate feeding bottles will leach this chemical into liquids.
When it comes to Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure from polycarbonate plastic bottles, it’s not whether the container is new or old but the liquid’s temperature that has the most impact on how much BPA is released, according to University of Cincinnati (UC) scientists.
Polycarbonate plastics are widely used in a variety of products including food and drink containers, CDs, DVDs, electrical and electronic equipment, automobiles, sports safety equipment.
Resins are used as a protective lining in metal food and drink containers and water supply pipes. In vitro and animal data indicate that BPA may mimic the natural female sex hormone, estradiol. Exposure to the general population can occur through direct contact to BPA or by exposure to food or drink that has been in contact with material containing BPA
BPA’s potential to cause harm to human reproduction or development. The conclusions are based primarily on a broad body of research involving numerous laboratory animal studies.
Animal Studies
The first evidence of the estrogenicity of bisphenol A came from experiments in the 1930s in which it was fed to ovariectomized rats,[16][17] but it was not until 1997 that adverse effects of low-dose exposure on laboratory animals were first reported.[6] Since then, its endocrine disrupting properties have been extensively investigated, and more than 100 studies have been published “rais[ing] health concerns” about the chemical.[18]
Early development appears to be the period of greatest sensitivity to its effects,[19] and studies have demonstrated developmental toxicity, carcinogenic effects, and possible neurotoxicity at low doses in animal models (see table below).[20][21] Recent studies suggest it may also be linked to obesity[22] by triggering fat-cell activity[23] and have confirmed that bisphenol A exposure during development has carcinogenic effects and produce precursors of breast cancer.[24][25] However, neither the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency[26] nor the International Agency for Research on Cancer[27] have evaluated bisphenol A for possible carcinogenic activity. Most recently, a study by the Yale School of Medicine demonstrated that adverse neurological effects occur in non-human primates regularly exposed to bisphenol A at levels equal the United States Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) maximum safe dose of 50 µg/kg/day.[28][29] This research found a connection between BPA and interference with brain cell connections vital to memory, learning and mood.
In 2007, a consensus statement by 38 experts on bisphenol A concluded that average levels in people are above those that cause harm to animals in laboratory experiments,[30] and a panel convened by the U.S. National Institutes of Health determined that there was “some concern” about BPA’s effects on fetal and infant brain development and behavior.[5] A 2008 report by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) agreed with the panel, expressing “some concern for effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures to bisphenol A,” and “minimal concern for effects on the mammary gland and an earlier age for puberty for females in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures to bisphenol A.” The NTP had “negligible concern that exposure of pregnant women to bisphenol A will result in fetal or neonatal mortality, birth defects, or reduced birth weight and growth in their offspring.”[31]
In April 2008, Health Canada released its Draft Screening Assessment for bisphenol A, which concluded that the chemical may pose some risk to infants[32] and proposed classifying the chemical as “‘toxic’ to human health and the environment.”[33] This action follows Canadian regulators selection of bisphenol A in 2006 as one of 200 substances deserving of thorough safety assessments because preliminary studies had found it to be “inherently toxic”; the chemical had not previously been studied by them in depth, having been accepted under grandfather clauses when stricter regulations were passed in the 1980s.[34]
In contrast to the recent actions in North America, earlier assessment by governments in other regions found no cause for concern. In January 2006 the German regulators announced that polycarbonate baby bottles are safe and stated that published research on the health effects of bisphenol A is “difficult to interpret and [is] occasionally contradictory”.[35] Also that year the European Union’s Food Safety Authority reached a similar conclusion, expressing “considerable reservations” about the biological significance and robustness of the low-dose exposure studies on rodents.[36] In 2007 Japan also concluded that for individuals in that country, “the current exposure levels of BPA will not pose any unacceptable risk to human health [and] that a ban is not needed.”[37]
Some toxicologists and regulatory agencies have criticized low-dose toxicity studies, especially those that involved injecting bisphenol A directly into animals, since human exposures typically involve ingestion and subsequent metabolism in the liver, and the experimental design of a few of these early studies has also been questioned.[38][39] On the other hand, studies have also appeared pointing out flaws in chemical-industry-funded studies that found no evidence of adverse effects from low dose exposure,[40][11] and a study from 2008 concluded that blood levels of bisphenol A in neonatal mice are the same whether it is injected or ingested
sumber :
