Canned Food Chemical Unhealthy Lab Results

Controversial chemical found in canned foods, U.S. tests show

High levels of bisphenol A, a compound that mimics the hormone estrogen and is used to make many types of plastic products, have been found to be leaching out of tin cans and baby bottles in separate tests conducted by two U.S. environmental groups.

The largest amounts were found by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group in brand-name canned goods purchased at U.S. supermarkets, with the most elevated readings detected in chicken noodle soup and mixed vegetables. The highest U.S. level found was about four times above top readings detected in canned food in Europe.

The findings are likely to add to the current controversy over bisphenol A, a chemical that its manufacturers insist is safe, but that has been linked in independent laboratory testing on animals to a raft of hormonally related health effects, including declining sperm counts, earlier onset of puberty, birth defects, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Currently, there are no regulatory limits on the amount of bisphenol A residues allowed in Canadian food. But bisphenol A is one of the first chemicals slated for review under a policy the Harper government announced late last year to consider thousands of compounds in widespread use that were never given thorough safety assessments.

The Canadian safety review is expected to begin in April or May and to be conducted jointly by federal health and environment officials.

Canadian environmentalists say that bisphenol A is likely to be present in food here in similar quantities to those in the United States, given the close links between the two countries.

"The same canned goods that are eaten in the United States are eaten in Canada, so there is every reason to believe that Canadians are exposed to the same levels of bisphenol A as our American neighbours," said Rick Smith, head of Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based group that is tracking chemical residues in the body tissues of Canadians.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency doesn't monitor bisphenol A residues in food, a spokesperson said yesterday.

Bisphenol A is used to make polycarbonate plastic, which is a sturdy, glass-like compound used in many water bottles. It is commonly identified by the plastic industry's triangle symbol containing the number 7. Bisphenol A is also added to the resins used to line the inside of tin cans to prevent foods from picking up a metallic taste.

The chemical bonds that hold bisphenol A together in products are unstable, allowing some of it to dissolve off containers into foods and beverages.

But a spokesman for bisphenol A manufacturers says the amounts inadvertently being eaten in food are nothing to worry about. "Human exposures to BPA from these kinds of products is well below a level that would cause concern," said Steven Hentges, executive director of the polycarbonate business unit of the American Plastics Council.

The other U.S. environmental group that conducted tests, the Los Angeles-based Environment California Research and Policy Centre, says it considers the potential human health threats from bisphenol A to be so large that it called on governments to remove the chemical from baby bottles.

It found that baby bottles it tested commonly leached four to 10 parts per billion of bisphenol A into water, and it expressed concern that young children would routinely be exposed to the chemical.

In January, the European Food Safety Authority stated that it viewed as safe the levels of the bisphenol A found in European canned food and beverage containers, although much of the research finding harmful effects has been conducted using animals given doses similar to those consumed by people through the food supply.

The highest level of bisphenol A detected in canned food in Europe was 91 parts per billion, according to the authority. However, that level was exceeded in testing conducted for the Environmental Working Group, which said it found levels as high as 385 ppb in a can of soup.

Source: Martin Mittelstaedt, The Globe and Mail