After using a new method for assessing levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in the body, scientists suggest that human exposure to the industrial chemical is much higher than previous estimates have suggested.

Share on Pinterest Plastic water bottles often contain BPA.

Regulators, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), could be relying on measures that underestimate levels of BPA in humans by as much as 44 times, they conclude in a recent report on their findings in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

BPA is an industrial chemical that is present in many consumer products, including plastic containers for food and drink, and epoxy resins. It is also an endocrine disruptor, which means that it interferes with the functioning of hormones in the body.

It is only in the last decade or so that scientists have begun to understand how BPA and other endocrine disruptors can impact human health.

Once it enters the body, BPA breaks down rapidly into metabolites. To accurately assess exposure, scientists must take metabolites into account.

In their study paper, the researchers explain that agencies, such as the FDA, are still relying on analytical techniques that indirectly assess BPA metabolite levels.

When they compared those techniques with a newer one that measures BPA metabolites directly, the results were markedly different.

“What it comes down to,” says corresponding author Patricia A. Hunt, a professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University in Pullman, “is that the conclusions federal agencies have come to about how to regulate BPA may have been based on inaccurate measurements.”