make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. The safety of bisphenol A has been
extensively studied by regulatory agencies, academic and scientific institutions, and
industry scientists for more than four decades. The potential human exposure to
bisphenol A from polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin products is extremely small and
poses no known risk to human health. This conclusion is based on these key points:
• Bisphenol A is Efficiently Metabolized and Rapidly Excreted
Studies on human volunteers have confirmed that bisphenol A is efficiently converted to
a metabolite after oral exposure. The metabolite is then rapidly excreted from the body
with a half-life of approximately 4 hours, which means that bisphenol A is essentially all
eliminated from the body within the day of exposure and does not accumulate in the
body. While in the body, bisphenol A is in the form of a metabolite that has no known
biological activity and, in particular, has been shown to be non-estrogenic. These
properties indicate that bisphenol A is likely to have low toxicity.
• Bisphenol A is Not Carcinogenic or Mutagenic
Numerous studies indicate that bisphenol A is neither carcinogenic nor mutagenic. Most
notably, these include lifetime animal studies conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology
Program, which concluded that “there was no convincing evidence that bisphenol A was
carcinogenic.” Government and scientific bodies worldwide have affirmed this
conclusion in their comprehensive assessments of bisphenol A.
• Bisphenol A Does Not Affect Reproduction or Development
In their comprehensive risk assessment on bisphenol A, the European Union concluded
that bisphenol A does not affect reproduction or development at any realistic dose. This
conclusion is based on comprehensive studies that examine laboratory animals across
multiple generations, including studies conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology
Program, and several studies that specifically examined low doses.
• Bisphenol A Does Not Cause Low-Dose Endocrine Effects
In recent years, a hypothesis has been advanced claiming that exposure to extremely low
doses of bisphenol A could cause health effects by disrupting endocrine functions.
Reported low-dose effects have not been replicated or corroborated in independent
laboratories and are not consistent from study to study. Large-scale experiments
following internationally accepted guidelines have found no evidence for endocrinerelated
reproductive or developmental effects from low doses of bisphenol A. The
validity of low-dose effects is not supported by the weight of scientific evidence, as
reviewed by scientific and government bodies worldwide.
• Human Exposure Poses No Significant Risk
Consumers would have to eat more than 500 pounds of food and beverages in contact
with polycarbonate plastic or epoxy resins every day of their lives to exceed exposure
levels determined to be safe by the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. The safe exposure levels are defined as a daily oral
exposure that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a
lifetime. Numerous biomonitoring studies that measure actual exposure levels have
confirmed that typical human exposure to bisphenol A is approximately 1000 times
below the safe exposure levels.
Polycarbonate food and beverage containers and epoxy can coatings continue to be
recognized as safe for use by government bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, the U.K. Food Standards Agency, the European Food Safety Authority,
the Japanese Ministry for Health, Labor and Welfare and other regulatory agencies
worldwide.
For more information on bisphenol A, please visit http://www.bisphenol-a.org.
