As the debate over safe levels of exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) continues without universally accepted conclusions, the plastics manufacturers association PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org) has pointed to a new study by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA, Washington, DC; www.fda.org) and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC, Atlanta, Georgia / USA; www.cdc.gov) that found low detection levels despite high consumption of canned food and beverages.

The research in which 20 participants ate and drank from cans for breakfast, lunch and dinner over a 24-hour period is said to have shown that the chemical used to manufacture polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins (found in can linings) was efficiently metabolised and rapidly excreted via urine and that free BPA was below the detection level. “These findings are consistent with previous human and animal studies and confirm the validity of earlier studies,” PlasticsEurope says, adding that previous test results that found high levels of BPA in blood “are unlikely to be valid.”

Earlier this year, a study by the Canadian Medical Association is said to have found that BPA levels in urine of US residents were higher than among nationals of any other country and twice the levels found in Canadians. The values were not published, but the findings are nevertheless being used by US consumer advocates to suggest that the chemical is unsafe. Meanwhile, US data published in early July indicates that not all consumers who switched from PC to metal sports bottles were better off, as some cheaper epoxy-lined bottles did in fact leach. Some of the brand-name bottles declared to be BPA-free actually were free of the chemical, however. While older PC bottles leached some amounts of BPA, researcher-author Scott Belcher at the Cincinnati College of Medicine noted that newer metal bottles with golden orange epoxy coatings leached far more. On the whole, Belcher said BPA leaching by even the worst-performing water bottles was low.