BPA free does not mean safe

Thanks to years of attention to bisphenol A (BPA), used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, there is now quite a bit of attention to various alternatives described generically as “BPA-Free.” Many manufacturers proudly apply a BPA-Free label to their products, even to products that never contained BPA in the first place.

The implication is that BPA-Free products are somehow better or safer than products that contain BPA. Never mind that the BPA-Free label is somewhat deceptive in that it identifies what a product isn’t made from rather than what it is made from.

Another topic getting a lot of attention lately is “fake news.” Perhaps it’s inevitable that these two trends would cross paths, but that’s essentially what happened recently.

A group of Chinese researchers recently published a study on a substance named fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF), which they said is a common alternative to BPA. The researchers reported that “[s]erious developmental and reproductive effects of BHPF … were observed in this study.” That led to alarming headlines such as “BPA Substitute Could Cause Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes,” which appeared in both popular media and the trade press.

The findings appear to be important since, according to the researchers, BHPF is now present in a wide variety of plastic consumer products including baby bottles and water bottles that are labelled as BPA-Free. But, as noted by Popular Science, “none of this matters if we’re not coming into contact with BHFP (sic) — it’s only a potential problem if humans are exposed to it.”

If you’ve never heard of BHPF, you’re not alone. There’s little evidence the substance has any commercial significance, and certainly no evidence that it’s widely used as a replacement for BPA.

Government databases from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicate it’s uncommon in the U.S. at best, and it’s not authorized for use in any FDA-regulated products that contact food, such as water or baby bottles. The claims that BHPF is in widespread use and that people are commonly exposed to it are simply not credible.

As suggested by the study, replacing BPA may be counter-productive if the replacement is not well-tested and found to be safe for use.

Second and more importantly, BPA is one of the best tested substance in commerce. Based on the extensive scientific data available for BPA, FDA answers the question “Is BPA Safe?” with an unambiguous answer — “Yes.”

If we listen to the science, there’s no need to replace BPA at all, especially with something of uncertain safety. So, should you be concerned about BHPF? In a word, no.