France votes to ban BPA in food contact materials

The French National Assembly voted today, by 348 votes for and 2 against, to ban bisphenol A (BPA) in all food contact materials from 2014. Containers aimed at children under three will have to be BPA-free by the beginning of 2013 and all products should be labelled to warn sensitive populations of the potential dangers of exposure to the substance.

The French lower house formerly adopted the law drafted by Socialist MP Gérard Bapt a week after the government expressed its support for stricter safeguards against the potential dangers of BPA (CW 7 October 2011). This decision followed the publication of a report by the French National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Labour (Anses) which stated that low dose exposure to BPA resulted in health effects in sensitive populations (CW 27 September 2011).

France agreed a ban on the use of BPA in baby bottle in Junes 2010, but MPs then refused to back calls by Mr Bapt for a total ban on the use of the chemical in all food containers (CW 24 June 2010). The text agreed today bans the fabrication, import, export and placing on the market of all food contact materials containing BPA from 1 January 2014, and introduces a similar ban a year earlier for containers aimed at children under the age of three.

The law also calls for any food packaging containing BPA to include a health warning discouraging its use for pregnant women and children under three. Moreover, Anses should prepare by the latest the end of October 2012 a report on potential substitutes for BPA, according to the text.

Lisette van Vliet, toxics policy advisor for the Health and Environmental Alliance (HEAL), said “this is an extremely important step for health protection. It should mean that the issue of BPA in food contact materials must be dealt with at the European level - something that has been called for for a long time by NGOs."

The Environmental Health Network (RES) welcomed the vote and went on to question the credibility of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and its maintenance of an Acceptable Daily Intake level that does not account for low dose effects. The group says that if EFSA does not update its position in light of the Anses report, the European institutions should investigate the authority’s experts.

RES also said it was important that Anses continued its work to identify other sources of BPA exposure such as food, medical equipment, musical instruments, thermal papers, water pipe coatings and wine containers. It also said that exposure from the environment via food or indoor air pollution should be properly characterised.

RES also noted that alternatives to BPA have been available for some time.

The Polycarbonate/BPA-Group and Epoxy Resins Committee (ERC) issued the following statement: “This decision is not supported by the current weight of scientific evidence. It is in conflict with EU-food contact regulation and the recent EFSA opinion, and threatens to create a significant distortion of the internal market for food contact goods in the EU. The members of the PC/BPA- and ERC group express significant disappointment at the French Parliament´s decision to adopt the proposal. Sound scientific risk assessments such as those under the EU existing substances Regulation, and those conducted specifically by EFSA, have concluded that consumers can safely use products made from materials based on BPA. Furthermore, other regulatory bodies around the world have approved BPA for materials in food contact. There is therefore no scientific reason to replace a well tested, authority-assessed and confirmed safe product. Industry welcomes the European Commission´s request to EFSA to provide an assessment of the Anses report.”

The French Senate now needs to give its support to the law, but this is seen largely as a formality given that France's upper parliamentary house recently swung to a centre-left majority. However, a spokesman for the European Commission said that no national ban can be introduced without agreement at EU level. He said the Commission would not comment specifically on the French vote until it had received an update on the potential dangers of BPA from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is currently studying Anses’ report. The EU executive has asked for a “speedy reaction” from EFSA and expects a response before the end of the year or by the beginning of 2012, according to the spokesman.