Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability also agree that
polycarbonates and epoxy liners as they are commonly used today, in
applications other than baby bottles, are generally safe in food-contact uses.
7.2.6 Environmental Sustainability and BPA
There is sufficient credible evidence that BPA leaches out of PC products
and epoxy liners into food/beverages in contact with plastic. The critical
question is whether potential adverse health impacts are encountered at
the low levels of BPA in real exposure environments (as opposed to those
in laboratory studies). There may not be enough research information to
unequivocally answer the question.
However, environmental sustainability considerations address a slightly
different question: Is there enough robust data on negative health impacts
to warrant precautionary action to phase out the use of BPA? The intensity
of the controversy in the science community alone answers this question
in the affirmative. Precautionary avoidance of the use of BPA, at the very
least in food-contact uses, pending resolution of the issue scientifically is
justified. This is particularly reasonable as comparable or superior
alternative materials for these applications do exist.
BPA-free plastics that can replace PC in bottles (PET and PE are widely
used already) or containers with no discernible loss in functionality are
available. While epoxy is an ideal, proven candidate for can liners, other
plastics can be used as a replacement. A changeover to BPA-free cans has
already been made in Japan back in the 1990s (Talsness et al., 2009), and
baked-on oleoresin liners can be used to replace epoxy can liners for most
(except for highly acidic food) packaging uses. BPA-free dental appliances
and composite fillings are also already in the marketplace. A critical
requirement, however, is that these replacements are also be proven safer
than the BPA they replaced. A part of the orientation toward sustainability
is to impose the same or even more stringent standards on potential toxicity
of the replacement for the BPA-based material. Given the resources of the
industry, replacing epoxy liners, leuco dyes that use BPA, PC and
polysulfonesinmedicalapplications,andPVCproductswithBPA,shouldbe
achievable.
