EU ban bans China from introducing new standards for bisphenol A milk bottles

As the EU recently banned the production of bisphenol A-containing feeding bottles, the news about the potential harm of bisphenol A feeding bottles to infant development has been scolded. The reporter recently visited a number of supermarkets and discovered that the bisphenol A milk bottles are still being sold. The European Union's ban has placed China's food containers and packaging materials standards on the agenda. The experts said that new standards for food containers and packaging materials in China will be introduced before June.

The domestic market can still see bisphenol A bottle

A few days ago, the European Union announced that its member states had banned the use of plastics containing bisphenol A on baby bottles since March 1, 2011, and banned the import of such plastic baby bottles on June 1. This has caused a panic among domestic mothers, especially infant mothers.

On March 3, the supermarket chain of pregnant and baby children announced that they had removed all bottles containing bisphenol A from more than 150 stores and websites across the country and stopped purchasing them. However, baby bottles for PC products are still on sale in many supermarkets and shopping malls.

When I visited Beijing Chaoyang North Road, Auchan Supermarket, I discovered that in only 20 kinds of baby bottle products, only one product of Identie indicated that the bottle is made of polyethersulfone and does not contain any chemical substances that may disrupt endocrine secretion (environmental hormones: Bisphenol A). Most of the rest of the products are marked: using high-quality PC materials, through the bisphenol A test, in line with European standards, safe and non-toxic tasteless. When a reporter asked the salesman, “These baby bottles of PC plastic would not be sold out,” the salesperson said “I didn't understand the situation and I didn’t receive a notification”.

Dong Jinshi, general secretary of the International Food Packaging Association, said that from a legal point of view, there are no business requirements for the removal of bisphenol A bottle, because China has not yet banned the production of bisphenol A milk bottles, and most manufacturers are production licenses. . In the current Chinese standards, products that do not contain bisphenol A or contain bisphenol A but do not exceed the standards are all qualified products. However, from the perspective of maintaining consumer health, businesses should consciously drop or update products.

Bisphenol A products have potential hazards

It is reported that the European Food Safety Authority issued regulations for bisphenol A in September 2010: the intake of bisphenol A per person per day must be less than 0.05 mg/kg. The issue of BPA may have some other effects on infants, when experts from the European Food Safety Authority stated that further research was needed.

Dong Jinshi said that although the harm to bisphenol A has been controversial, the potential harm of bisphenol A still exists. Bisphenol A precipitates in the food during the heating process and interferes with normal human hormone secretion, stimulates the secretion of estrogen and inhibits the secretion of androgens. If you ingest it for a long time, it may cause cardiovascular disease or even cancer.

Bisphenol A is abbreviated as BPA and is mainly used for the manufacture of polymer materials such as polycarbonate (PC for short). Many daily consumer products such as food wrappers, baby bottles, etc., may contain bisphenol A.

Fang Zhouzi, a popular science writer, publicly stated on Weibo that many of the materials used in jugs, cups, and bottles are polycarbonate (PC) resins that release traces of bisphenol A, especially when exposed to acids and when exposed to heat, bisphenol A. Easier to release it. A number of studies (mainly animal experiments) have shown that pregnant women, infants and young children even when exposed to low-dose bisphenol A may also affect the development of the brain and endocrine system in infants and young children.

In view of the current situation, Dong Jinshi advises consumers not to panic first, as long as products produced according to national standards can still be used with confidence. Second, try to buy products that do not contain bisphenol A, such as glass bottles. Third, the newly purchased bottle should be cooked in hot water for three to five minutes. This will dissolve some harmful substances and reduce the content of harmful substances in the bottle. In addition, plastic milk bottles should not be cooked in the water for a long time and should not be heated in a microwave oven.

Fang also suggested on Weibo that when choosing bottles for infants, hard, transparent bottles that do not contain bisphenol A usually contain bisphenol A, whereas soft, translucent bottles usually do not contain bisphenol A.

China's new standard or introduced before June 1

Dong Jinshi said that in the use of bisphenol A, China's current standard is the same as the original EU standard, ie, one liter of distilled water contains less than 0.05 milligrams of phenol. The safety issue of BPA has been a long-standing issue. Some countries have already made decisions on this, while others still wait and see.

Canada announced the ban on bisphenol A in all food packaging and containers (including baby bottles) in 2008 and became the first country to completely ban BPA; Australia also phased out bisphenol A-containing infants from July 1, 2010. Bottles; some states and counties in the United States also require that children's care products contain no bisphenol A.

There is no specific bisphenol A standard for baby bottles in China. At present, there is only one current national standard applicable to all PC products. This is the “Hygienic Standard for Polycarbonate Resin Used in Food Containers and Packaging Materials” issued in 1994 (Standard No.: GB14942-1994), which specifies the amount of bisphenol A: one liter of distilled water contains no more than 0.05 milligrams of phenol.

The Ministry of Health is currently cleaning up food packaging materials and has issued an exposure draft, which stipulates that bisphenol A can no longer be used to contact infants and young children. The Bureau of Supervision of the Ministry of Public Health issued the “Letter on Public Consultation on Approval of Approved Additives and Resins for Food Packaging Materials” on February 1. It announced the first batch of 196 additives for food packaging materials to be approved and 116 food packagings to be approved. Resin for materials. In the list of “116 approved resins for food packaging materials”, a new polyethersulfone (PESU) is added; and the maximum residue of bisphenol A in PC plastic is 0.6mg/kg. For contact with infant food.

Dong Jinshi said that new food containers and packaging materials standards may be introduced before June 1. The general situation is that the standards for food containers and packaging materials are to be updated within three to five years. The lagging standards and lagging management in China have inhibited the progress of science and technology. PESU is allowed to produce in the EU and the United States and is safe. The inclusion of PESU in the consultation draft of the Ministry of Health Supervision can be seen as an alternative to the future BPA.