Dutch government to limit BPA exposure amid calls for EU action

From:FoodBev

BPA is found in some plastic and metal packaging.

The Dutch government has called on the European Commission to revise its current standards in relation to bisphenol A (BPA), the synthetic material used in plastic packaging for various food and drink products.

The country’s minister for health, welfare and sport, Edith Schippers, wants to limit exposure to BPA among pregnant women and young children, whose immune systems may be significantly more vulnerable to any health effects.

But she has rejected the option of an outright ban, calling it “not desirable”.

The move has been prompted by a report from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM), published last month, which assessed the impact of BPA on both the environment and consumers’ health.

It comes in spite of a European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) opinion that BPA exposure posed no material risk to the health of consumers, regardless of their age.

Schippers will push ahead with measures to limit the prevalence of BPA in the Netherlands, ahead of any reaction from the commission or Efsa.

She said: “European standards take time and the effects are only noticeable over long periods of time. I will not wait for that. Therefore, we are now taking a number of national measures to reduce exposure to BPA.”

A spokesperson for the Dutch government added that it would “work to ensure that manufacturers reduce the use of BPA and develop safer alternatives”.

RIVM’s report concluded that “there are several alternatives to BPA, among them drop-in substances, material substitutes and non-chemical alternatives”.

Claims: 
The copyrights of articles in the website belong to authors. Please inform us if there is any violation of intellectual property and we will delete the articles immediately.