On January 22, 2014 the journal Health Affairs released a study concluding that banning bisphenol A (BPA) from food uses would prevent 6 236 childhood obesity cases and 22 350 cases of coronary heart disease annually. The study by Leonardo Trasande, associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine, U.S., aimed to quantify the health costs of BPA’s use in polycarbonate (PC) plastics and epoxy resins. In the study, Trasande modeled the costs and benefits from replacing BPA in food packaging, using among others data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2003-08. According to his findings, the social costs of BPA amounted to $2.98 billion USD in 2008. He concludes that savings in health costs are likely to outweigh costs arising from the switch to safer substitutes for BPA. In a press release published January 23, 2014 the non-governmental organization Health and Environment Alliance comments that this kind of cost analysis should be included in the upcoming impact assessment on endocrine disrupting criteria in the European Union (previously reported on by the FPF).
Read more
Trasande, L. (2014). “Further Limiting Bisphenol A In Food Uses Could Provide Health And Economic Benefits.” Health Affairs (published online January 22, 2014).
Health and Environment Alliance (January 22, 2014). “Europe should act on BPA following health cost-tag calculation.”
