New research reveals that a hormone-disrupting chemical is present in the bodies of almost all Europeans

Recent research has unveiled that a hormone-disrupting chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA) is present in the bodies of nearly all Europeans, posing a significant health risk.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) disclosed on Thursday (September 14) that BPA was found in 71 to 100 percent of adults in the 11 European countries studied. The agency cited a recent research initiative called HBM4EU, funded under Horizon 2020, which measured chemicals in people’s bodies across Europe and detected BPA in the urine of 92 percent of adult participants.

BPA is widely used in food packaging throughout the European Union and was previously used in the production of baby bottles until it was banned in Europe, the United States, and other countries about a decade ago.

In April, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) significantly reduced the recommended maximum daily intake of BPA allowed for consumers, lowering it by 20,000 times to 0.2 billionths of a gram from the previous four-millionths of a gram. This change was driven by concerns that consuming BPA above the specified level could lead to health disorders associated with hormone disruption, including conditions such as breast cancer and infertility.

Despite the ban on BPA in some applications, it is still commonly used to manufacture plastic for food and drink packaging, which means that most people are potentially exposed to this chemical when consuming food and beverages.

However, there is a dispute over the acceptable daily intake of BPA that can be safely consumed over a lifetime without endangering human health. The European Medicines Agency, responsible for drug approvals, has challenged the EFSA’s updated maximum recommended limits, criticizing the methodology and suggesting that the EFSA acted hastily, especially considering the absence of a proven causal link in studies involving animals or humans.

Nonetheless, the EEA has concluded that people’s exposure to BPA “is well above acceptable health safety levels, according to updated research data,” and that this poses a potential health risk to millions of people. The agency also noted that the reported exceedances represent minimum numbers, implying that there is a probability that all 11 countries studied have exposure rates of 100 percent above safe levels.