Breast Cancer Fund Targets BPA in Children’s Canned Food

The Breast Cancer Fund (BCF) recently issued a report alleging that six
canned meal products marketed to children contain bisphenol A (BPA) at
levels averaging 49 parts per billion (ppb). Researchers reportedly sent 12
items total to an independent laboratory, which pureed the can contents in
“BPA-free materials” and assessed BPA levels using Gas Chromatography-Mass
Spectrometry. According to the results, the sampled soups averaged 77.5 ppb
of BPA and the meals 21 ppb, with one canned soup purportedly registering a
BPA level of 148 ppb.

“The levels of BPA we found in these canned foods marketed to children are
of great concern,” states BFC in its report. “While a child-sized serving (about
two-thirds of an adult-sized serving, according to Kaiser Permanente’s serving
size estimates for children) may result in BPA exposure at a level of concern, an
adult-sized serving given to a child would result in even higher BPA exposure.”

The group has apparently used the findings to further its “Cans Not Cancer”
campaign to remove BPA from food packaging. It has also called on legislators
to support a bill introduced earlier this year by U.S. Representative Edward
Markey (D-Mass.) that would ban BPA from all food and beverage containers
as well as direct the Food and Drug Administration to review approved food
packaging additives which “may pose a health risk, based on new scientific
information.”