The News Regarding Water Cooler Bottles are Incorrect
We have been following with regret the articles published on the printed press and on some websites over the last few days regarding Bisphenol A (BPA), a substance used in the production of packaging materials such as water cooler bottles and tin cans.Our association has deemed fit to make the following statement regarding the issue.
Some news articles have recently been published on the printed press and on some websites regarding bisphenol A (BPA) which is known as the raw material polycarbonate water bottles known as 19 liter water cooler bottles, for nursing bottles manufactured from polycarbonate and for epoxy resins used as liners for tin food containers.
These news are based on a report published in Canada on April 18th, 2008, stating that BPA can cause some health issues when ingested, and therefore the use of polycarbonates in baby nursing bottles might be inadvisable.This report states that warming baby formulas inside the nursing bottle may be hazardous as a practice that will lead to higher migration of the BPA content of the polycarbonate in correlation with increased temperature, and a warning was consequently made to limit practices in this area.
The above mentioned hazard is not a concern for polycarbonate water cooler bottles.Polycarbonate is used due to its safety and low cost, in manufacturing reusable water cooler bottles around the world, particularly in the USA, Canada, and EU countries.
In its statement issued on July 2008, the European Union Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has stated that there is no definite scientific basis for the claim that BPA causes any health problems.The probability of BPA entering the human body due to the use of polycarbonate products such as bottles and nursing bottles or epoxy lined metal food containers is very low; and trace amounts of BPA is expelled by the human body within 24 hours.The US Food Safety Authority FDA and EFSA have reported that BPA does not cause any health problems in these quantities [1].
This summer the EU Commission (the European Chemical Bureau) has issued its updated risk assessment and concluded that using BPA based materials such as polycarbonate or epoxy resin does not pose a risk for consumers or the environment [2].
Furthermore, the source of these concerns, the Canadian Ministry of Health has stated in July 25th, 2008 in a correspondence addressed to the Canadian Bottled Water Producers Association that the use of polycarbonate in water cooler bottles and other food containers does not pose any problems and that the quantity of BPA that is likely to enter the body via food containers does not pose any health risk for babies or for adults.We have these documents at our disposal.Anyone who wishes to can obtain these documents by making an application to our Association [3].
For the sake of food safety, plastics that come in contact with food must conform to the “Communiqué on Plastic Substances and Materials that Come in Contact with Food of our Turkish Food Codex.Polycarbonate water bottles are manufactured by using suitable raw materials as per the above mentioned regulation, following the manufacturing permission of the relevant body of the General Directorate of Protection and Control of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Members of our Association as well as all other industrialists operating in our packaging sector who have embraced the rule of operating on a registered basis always take the utmost care in this regard.Water cooler bottles manufactured by our members are subjected to regular BPA migration analyses and total migration analyses.The BPA migration analysis is carried out by keeping the full water cooler bottle for 10 days at 40°C temperature and subsequently measuring the amount of BPA that has migrated from the bottle to the water. This value is measured less than 0.005 mg/l.The maximum amount of migrated BPA permitted in the food packaging regulation number 2002/72/EC of the European Union, which forms the basis of the Ministry of Health’s regulation regarding drinking water is 0.6 mg/lt, 120 times this amount.
The numbers ranging from 1 to 7 included in the news stories recently published in the national press, also known as recycling codes indicate the type of plastic the packaging has been manufactured from.The statement that this number indicates the possible presence of harmful chemicals within the packaging is absolutely false.
There is also no element of health risk from the viewpoint of the World Health Organization, which is very sensitive in these issues.Furthermore, there is no issue/warning in any country around the world regarding the health risk of water in polycarbonate bottles.
We are of the absolute opinion that saying these and all other plastic food containers that have been manufactured correctly from proper raw materials whose specifications have been stipulated by regulations cause or may cause a certain illness is neither an accurate nor a scientifically correct statement.
As a final word, our Association believes that there is a direct correlation between “food safety and “all other materials that come in contact with food. We recommend that our public uses packaged foods at all times. If a packaging material has been manufactured in the correct manner, it preserves the quality of the product it contains so long as food safety and the chain of hygiene is not compromised. It minimizes health risks and raises the prosperity level of society.
References:
(1) EFSAs Announcement: “European Food Safety Authority (ESFA) Reaffirms Safety of Bisphenol A (BPA) in Food-Contact Products(2) ECHAs first list of possible chemicals classed as “of very high concern(3) Minister of Health and the Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rigid Plastic Packaging Manufacturers Association,Sert (Rijit) Plastik Ambalaj Sanayicileri Derneği – Ambalaj Sanayicileri Binası, Koşuyolu Katip Salih Sokak, No.13, Kadıköy – ISTANBUL, Phone: (216) 5454948, Fax: (216) 5454947,e-mail: sepa@ambalaj.org.tr
