Tests find harmful chemical leaching into canned food

Environmental Laboratory Washington Report, Staff
Published April 4, 2007

New independent tests show that a potentially harmful chemical commonly used to line the insides of canned food containers might be leaching out into the food product inside, exposing the public to harmful levels of the compound. The lab tests, conducted on behalf of the Environmental Working Group, found bisphenol A, or BPA, in 55 of 97 cans of food purchased from major supermarket chains in California, Connecticut and Georgia. The lab tested 27 national name brands and three store brands. According to the EWG, the potential for BPA to cause birth defects and reproductive harm is being evaluated by a federal advisory panel at the Center for Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, a division of the National Institutes of Health. BPA is an ingredient in plastics and the epoxy resins that line food cans. Low doses of BPA lead to a range of health problems, including birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in laboratory animals, the EWG said. The lab tests found that pregnant women and infants who eat even a single serving of some canned foods are exposed to unsafe doses of BPA. Of the foods tested - which included many of the canned foods eaten most often by women of childbearing age - BPA levels were highest in canned pasta and soup; canned infant formula also had high levels. According to the group, just one to three servings of food with these BPA levels could expose a pregnant woman or infant to harmful doses of the chemical. According to the EWG, the last comprehensive review of low-dose studies of BPA found that the overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed studies - 94 out of 115 - confirmed BPA's toxicity at low levels of exposure.