Human Health Effects of Bisphenol A

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high production endocrine disrupting chemical found in numerous consumer products. BPA has been used commercially since 1957 to make hard polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins used in food-can linings, cash-register receipts, and dental resins. The ubiquity of BPA in our environment results in exposure to this chemical daily in human populations. But controversy remains regarding how much BPA humans actually ingest or otherwise encounter. Many laboratory animal and human studies have linked exposures to BPA, a hormone mimicking chemical, to adverse health effects, including altered behavior and obesity in children, reproductive abnormalities, cardiovascular changes, and various cancers. However, there have been considerable inconsistencies in the outcomes from these studies with respect to the nature of the adverse health effects observed, and questions as to whether the BPA dose at which they occur are within the range of non-occupational human exposures. This chapter reviews the latest research on BPA, focusing on human exposure, discussions of biomonitoring studies and toxicokinetic models, human health effects, and research needs. We also include illustrative examples of animal models that address whether BPA-exposure is associated with changes in certain health endpoints.