Share the News – BPA is Safe!

Steven Hentges, Ph.DMonday, April 23, 2018 SAFETY
It’s no secret that we’re all exposed to BPA. From extensive research conducted by theU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others, we even know how
much BPA we are exposed to from our diets and consumer products that we use everyday.
But now we also know, as consumers, that we don’t need to be concerned about the typical
low levels of exposure to BPA that we experience. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S.
National Toxicology Program (NTP) released a report on the largest study ever conducted
on BPA. The results of the so-called CLARITY Core study, which was conducted by seniorscientists with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), demonstrate that BPA hasvery little potential to harm us even when we are exposed to it throughout our lives.
The results are of such significance that FDA promptly informed us of the results witha public statement. In the statement, FDA noted that “our initial review supports ourdetermination that currently authorized uses of BPA continue to be safe for consumers.”
Now that we have this information, what should we do with it? In particular should weshare it with our friends and family?
The way that we decide what information of this type to share and what not to share wasexplored in a study recently published in the International Journal of Research inMarketing. The researchers, from universities in The Netherlands and Turkey, focused on
how self-construal and self-relevance affect if – and how – we share either positive ornegative information about the potential for a product to harm us.

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The researchers conducted a series of controlled studies with student volunteers at aWestern European university. In each of the studies, the students were first given positiveor negative information about a product, and then monitored in various ways to assess theirlikelihood to share the information. One of the controlled studies involved productinformation related to BPA.
One factor that influenced whether information was likely to be shared involves the conceptof self-relevance. In particular, was the information relevant to the student or friends andfamily?
A second factor involves the concept of self-construal. In particular, did the students view
themselves as independent or interdependent in their relationships with other people? Inother words, did the students think of themselves as individuals or as members of a group?
Both of these factors had an influence on whether positive or negative product harm
information was likely to be shared. Information is more likely to be shared if it is selfrelevant and the person receiving the information views their relationship with others asinterdependent.
The study examined factors that influence information sharing but did not makerecommendations on when information should be shared. In this case, the important newinformation on the potential for BPA to cause harm is certainly self-relevant, since we knowthat we are exposed to trace levels of BPA and potentially at risk.
For the same reason the information is relevant to our friends and family. So what will you
do with this important new information on the potential for BPA to cause harm? According
to the findings of the study, feel free to share.

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