A growing trend has led to everyday products such as plastic bottles and many baby products to be “BPA-Free”, however, what is replacing the chemical in these products may be just as harmful.

In recent years, many countries, including Canada, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, have banned the use of Bisphenol A (BPA) in several children’s products due to potential adverse health effects. . The chemical that is used to replace BPA is Bisphenol S (BPS), however, studies have shown that BPS may be just as harmful. According to these studies, BPS could lead to similar harmful effects, including cancer. Furthermore, many possible side effects to having a long-term exposure to BPS are still unknown. In the United States, it has been 40 years since the Toxic Substance Control Act has seen any changes even though studies have come out since then.

As of March 16, 2016 the mainstream media coverage about BSP has been very minimal. There was an article that was written for the Baltimore Sun, which was a feature piece on someone who had experienced the effects of mislabeled products, but it is briefly mentioned that BPS may not be better than BPA. All other media exposure has been from alternative media sites such as AlterNet and Treehuggger.

Sources:

Laura Barnhardt Cech, “Baltimore professor’s book reveals hidden health risks in household items.” March 9, 2016, http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-hs-mckay-jenkins-contamination-20160309-story.html

Michael Graham Richard, “‘BPA-free’ plastics often use Bisphenol-S… which might be just as bad.” Treehugger, February 1, 2016, http://www.treehugger.com/health/bpa-free-plastics-often-uses-bisphenol-s-which-might-be-just-bad.html

Wenhui Qiu, Ming Yang, Nancy Wayne, “Why That ‘Safe’ Plastic Alternative Might Not Be so Safe.” AlterNet, March 14, 2016, http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/why-safe-plastic-alternative-might-not-be-so-safe

Wenhui Qiu, Yali Zhao, Ming Yang, Matthew Farajzadeh, Chenyuan Pan, and Nancy L. Wayne, “Actions of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S on the Reproductive Neuroendocrine System During Early Development in Zebrafish.” December 10, 2015, http://press.endocrine.org/doi/10.1210/en.2015-1785

Student Researcher: Laura Beamish (University of Regina)

Faculty Evaluator: Patricia W. Elliott (University of Regina)

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