The EU Banned A Chemical Found In Most Food Packaging.

A sweeping European Union ban on bisphenol A, the synthetic chemical used in polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resin can linings, printing inks, adhesives, and dozens of other food packaging materials, takes effect on July 20th, marking the most significant restriction on a food contact chemical in the bloc's history and extending protections far beyond the existing EU ban on BPA in baby bottles to cover virtually all food and drink packaging for consumers of every age. The decision was driven by a 2023 reassessment by the European Food Safety Authority that lowered the acceptable daily intake for BPA from 4 micrograms to 0.2 nanograms per kilogram of body weight, a threshold reduction of 20,000 times, after new research identified the immune system as the most sensitive biological system to BPA exposure, with the chemical also linked to reproductive harm, metabolic disruption, and developmental effects at similar exposure levels. A Horizon 2020 research initiative detected BPA in the urine of 92 percent of adult participants across 11 European countries, all at levels exceeding EU safety thresholds, making the case for regulatory action difficult to argue against. The regulation covers plastics, varnishes, coatings, printing inks, silicones, adhesives, rubber, and ion-exchange resins used in contact with food, and also bans five other hazardous bisphenols including BPS and BPAF that have similar toxicological profiles to BPA.

The regulation was designed to prevent manufacturers from simply substituting BPA with similarly problematic chemicals, a pattern that regulators describe as regrettable substitution, by classifying and restricting the entire bisphenol family with similar hazard profiles rather than addressing chemicals one at a time. Transition periods have been built into the timeline to accommodate industries where viable alternatives are not yet available: acidic food cans for fruits, vegetables, and fish have until January 2028 to comply, and certain professional equipment has even longer. Narrow exemptions remain in place for large industrial tanks over 1,000 liters where migration risk is low, and for polysulfone filtration membranes used in food safety processes like dairy pathogen removal, for which no alternative yet exists. The US Food and Drug Administration still permits BPA in food contact materials for American consumers, a gap that the Environmental Defense Fund has been highlighting publicly since the EU announced its phased ban, noting that European children and adults have been protected for more than a year already while the FDA has yet to act.

Source:https://www.dw.com/en/eu-ban-on-bpa-chemical-in-food-packaging-takes-effect/a-77630680