Page 36 - Plastics News March 2018

internAtionAL news

Major U.S. study gives 'currently authorized' BPA uses clean

bill of health

long-awaited U.S. government study of the health effects at FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research, in
A of bisphenol A, a key building block of polycarbonate, collaboration with NIEHS and its parent, the National
seems to be giving the controversial chemical a clean bill of Institutes of Health. A final report is expected in 2019,
health in food packaging.The Food and Drug Administration incorporating additional research.
said in a statement that preliminary report supports its
earlier determination that “currently authorized uses of
BPA continue to be safe for consumers.”The report was BP predicts plastics bans will
welcomed by the American Chemistry Council, which said
the multi-year review by government scientists is the impact oil demand
largest study ever
on BPA.“The results P plc has predicted that global demand for oil could
indicate that BPA has Bbe impacted by as much as 2 million barrels per
day by 2040 due by governments’ efforts to regulate
very little potential products, including bans of single-use plastics. In its
to cause health latest energy outlook unveiled last week BP predicted
effects even when that oil demand would continue to grow at about 0.5
people are exposed percent annually through 2040. According to the British
to it throughout press, commenting on the new outlook, BP’s chief
their lives,” said economist Spencer Dale said the company believed
Steven Hentges, that regulation against some types of petrochemicals,
senior director of particularly single-use plastics, would increase in
the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group for the Washington- the coming years.“As a result of that, we have less
growth in non-combusted oils than we otherwise
based ACC. BPA has been widely examined for the past two
decades, with some studies saying the chemical interferes
with human endocrine systems, including at very low
doses. The study said most regulatory agencies around
the world have now ruled that nonworkplace exposures
to BPA “do not pose a credible risk to people” but it noted
disagreement in some circles: “This conclusion is not
without controversy.”

Baby bottle manufacturers in North America agreed in would have done,” Bloomberg quoted Dale as saying
2009 to no longer use BPA, responding to regulatory and .This, according to Dale, is not limited to the United
public concern. Canada banned BPA in baby bottles in Kingdom, which has recently seen a wave of actions
2008, and the U.S. FDA in 2013 banned it in packaging and bans across a number of industries on single-use
for baby formula. FDA said this new study, a multimillion plastics. “If you live in the U.K. that’s clearly been an
dollar project, was commissioned after a 2008 National issue, but it’s not just a U.K.-specific thing; you see it
worldwide, for example China has changed some of its
Toxicology Program review “raised some concerns” about policies,” The Guardian quoted Dale. In February alone,
development effects in rodents exposed to relatively the British royal estates, the BBC, and leading music
low doses of BPA. The study is a draft report, and will festival Glastonbury have announced measures to cut
be reviewed in a public meeting April 26 organized by single-use plastics. The moves were prompted by a TV
the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences series Blue Planet II by Sir David Attenborough, which
in Raleigh, N.C.The study was conducted by scientists highlighted the scale of sea pollution.

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