Exposed to BPA? There’s No Need to Worry.
Here’s What You Need to know…

Steven Hentges, Ph.D
Tuesday, February 11, 2020 SAFETY
If you live in Canada, there’s a good chance that you’re exposed to BPA. We know that
because, late last year, Health Canada released its Fifth Report on Human Biomonitoring ofEnvironmental Chemicals in Canada. The report, part of an ongoing program that produces
biennial reports, includes extensive biomonitoring data that document exposure of theCanadian population to a range of chemicals, one of which is BPA.
Although this new report is focused on the Canadian population, similar biomonitoringstudies have been conducted in many other countries. For example, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention publishes its National Report on Human Exposure to
Environmental Chemicals, which also includes data on exposure of the U.S. population toBPA. Biomonitoring data on BPA have also been reported in well over 100 smaller scalestudies from around the world.
Regardless of where you live though, exposure data is only part of what you need to know.
As Health Canada notes: “Finding a measurable amount of BPA in urine is an indicator ofexposure to BPA and does not necessarily mean that an adverse health effect will occur.”This important precaution is why there’s no need to worry. Exposure doesn’t necessarily
imply there will be any health effect.
To better understand the potential for BPA to cause an adverse health effect, you might also
want to know the source of BPA exposure, what happens to it in the body and, mostimportantly, is it safe at the levels to which you are exposed. For all of these questions,
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Health Canada doesn’t leave us hanging.
The source of human exposure to BPA has been extensively studied by researchers
worldwide, including numerous studies from Health Canada scientists. Based on
information from these studies, in particular studies on food packaging, Health Canada
notes: “The primary route of exposure to BPA for the general public is through dietaryintake.”
Where it gets interesting is what happens to BPA when it enters the body. This topic has
also been extensively studied and as reported by Health Canada: “In humans, BPA isreadily absorbed and undergoes extensive metabolism in the gut wall and the liver.” The
importance of the key words in that sentence – extensive metabolism – is then explained:“The … metabolite is not considered to be biologically active and is rapidly excreted in urine
with a half-life of less than two hours.”
In other words, because of the way that BPA is processed in the body, it’s not likely to beharmful. After exposure, BPA is efficiently converted to a biologically inactive metabolite,
which is then quickly eliminated from the body. The biomonitoring method used by Health
Canada and other researchers to measure exposure to BPA relies on this metabolic
process by measuring the amount of the BPA metabolite in urine.
Considering all of this information, and much more, Health Canada previously conducted ascience-based assessment to determine whether BPA may present a risk to human health.
Its bottom line tells the story: “Health Canada has concluded that current dietary exposure
to BPA through food packaging is not expected to pose a health risk to the general
population, including newborns and young children.”
Exposure to BPA in the Canadian population and Health Canada’s conclusion on what itmeans is consistent with what has been reported elsewhere. Everywhere it’s been
examined, exposure to BPA has been found to be very low. As to what this means, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration says it most succinctly on its website: “Is BPA safe? Yes.”

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