Are plastic bottles and drink cans safe?

Are plastic bottles and drink cans safe?

Thu, Oct 02, 2008 The New Paper

By Ng Wan Ching

CONSUMERS, alarmed by the melamine contamination in Chinese diary products which have claimed the lives of at least three babies, now have one more hazard to worry about: The Biphenol-A (BPA) controversy.

And it is still raging in the US - with studies linking it to diabetes and heart disease.

BPA is a chemical component of a resin used in the lacquer coating of the inside surfaces of food and drink cans. The coating prevents metal corrosion and allows the cans to withstand high temperatures during the food sterilisation process.

Used in everything from polycarbonate plastic bottles to the linings of metal cans, it is one of the highest production-volume chemicals in the world, with 2 million tons made every year. Demand is growing at up to 10 per cent yearly.

Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have detected it in the urine of 93 per cent of Americans tested.

As recently as 16 Sep, a study linked BPA to diabetes and heart disease.

It was reported in USA Today that although scientists have published hundreds of studies about BPA's health risks, most experiments have used animals or cells, with only a handful of small studies on people.

The study's co-author, Dr David Melzer of the University of Exeter in UK, said his study shows that adults with the highest BPA levels were more than twice as likely to have diabetes or cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest.

How worried should we be?

Not too worried, so say Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), the European Union (EU) and the US.

All three bodies have approved the use of BPA in the production of food-contact applications and they have established limits for BPA to ensure that it does not present a human health risk.

An AVA spokesman said: 'The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which serve as the scientific advisory body to the EU on food safety, has carried out a safety review on BPA in 2006.'

Safe

It concluded that the levels at which BPA migrates into food from food-contact materials, including from metal can lacquers, does not pose a risk to human health. The EFSA has further reaffirmed the safety of BPA this year after taking into consideration new scientific data.

The AVA spokesman said that the US Food & Drug Administration has completed a safety review of BPA this year and has indicated that there is no safety concern for the chemical at current dietary exposures.

Safety assessments conducted by Health Canada this year also concluded that BPA migration levels from canned food are very low and consumers have to consume several hundred cans of food per day to reach the tolerable limit.

AVA itself has conducted tests on canned food and beverages for BPA migration and the tests showed that the canned food and beverages are safe for consumption.

The spokesman said: 'AVA is closely monitoring the scientific developments as well as the latest recommendations made by international food safety regulators on the safety of BPA, and will provide appropriate advice to our consumers.'

This story was first published in The New Paper on Sept 30, 2008.