This opinion describes the assessment of the risks to public health associated with bisphenol A (BPA) exposure. Exposure was assessed for various groups of the human population in three different ways: (1) external (by diet, drinking water, inhalation, and dermal contact to cosmetics and thermal paper); (2) internal exposure to total BPA (absorbed dose of BPA, sum of conjugated and unconjugated BPA); and (3) aggregated (from diet, dust, cosmetics and thermal paper), expressed as oral human equivalent dose (HED) referring to unconjugated BPA only. The estimated BPA dietary intake was highest in infants and toddlers (up to 0.875 µg/kg bw per day). Women of childbearing age had dietary exposures comparable to men of the same age (up to 0.388 µg/kg bw per day). The highest aggregated exposure of 1.449 µg/kg bw per day was estimated for adolescents. Biomonitoring data were in line with estimated internal exposure to total BPA from all sources. BPA toxicity was evaluated by a weight of evidence approach. “Likely” adverse effects in animals on kidney and mammary gland underwent benchmark dose (BMDL10) response modelling. A BMDL10 of 8 960 µg/kg bw per day was calculated for changes in the mean relative kidney weight in a two generation toxicity study in mice. No BMDL10 could be calculated for mammary gland effects. Using data on toxicokinetics, this BMDL10 was converted to an HED of 609 µg/kg bw per day. The CEF Panel applied a total uncertainty factor of 150 (for inter- and intra-species differences and uncertainty in mammary gland, reproductive, neurobehavioural, immune and metabolic system effects) to establish a temporary Tolerable Daily Intake (t-TDI) of 4 µg/kg bw per day. By comparing this t-TDI with the exposure estimates, the CEF Panel concluded that there is no health concern for any age group from dietary exposure and low health concern from aggregated exposure. The CEF Panel noted considerable uncertainty in the exposure estimates for non-dietary sources, whilst the uncertainty around dietary estimates was relatively low.

Scientific Opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in foodstuffs: Executive summary

Associations between serum phthalates and biomarkers of reproductive function in 589 adult men

https://findresearcher.sdu.dk:8443/ws/files/135453306/MS_Pesticides_and_AGD_2ndRevision_RT_submitted_version.pdf

Associations of maternal exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides and the herbicide 2,4-D with birth outcomes and anogenital distance at 3 months in the Odense Child Cohort.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widespread endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) strongly suspected to have adverse health effects. Numerous tissues and cells are affected by BPA, and we showed recently that BPA targets include ameloblasts and enamel. We therefore investigated the effects of BPA on ameloblasts and the possible involvement of the estrogen signaling pathway. Rats were exposed daily to low-dose BPA, and developed enamel hypomineralization similar to human molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH). BPA increased ameloblast proliferation in vivo and in vitro. The proliferation of the rat dental epithelial cell line HAT-7 was also increased by estrogen (E2). Ameloblasts express ERα but not ERβ both in vivo and in vitro. The ER antagonist ICI 182,780 was used to inactivate ERα and abolished the effects of E2 on cell proliferation and transcription, but only partially reduced the effects of BPA. In conclusion, we show, for the first time, that: 1) BPA has ER-dependent and ER-independent effects on ameloblast proliferation and gene transcription; 2) the estrogen signaling pathway is involved in tooth development and the enamel mineralization process; and 3) BPA impacts preferentially amelogenesis in male rats. These results are consistent with the steroid hormones having effect on ameloblasts, raising the issues of the hormonal influence on amelogenesis and possible differences in enamel quality between sexes.

Estrogen and bisphenol A affect male rat enamel formation and promote ameloblast proliferation.

Mechanisms underlying disruptive effects of pesticides on the thyroid function

The present study intended to develop receptor-mediated luciferase reporter gene assays to evaluate and compare the estrogen receptor (ER), androgen receptor (AR) and thyroid hormone receptor (TR) activities of target chemicals. Di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate (DEHP), chlorpyrifos (CPF), 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and bisphenol A (BPA) are some of the most common contaminants in drinking water and are frequently detected in China and worldwide. The chemicals were tested at concentrations of 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 times their maximum contaminant level in drinking water. The results showed that BPA possessed various activities on ER, AR and TR. DEHP and CPF could suppress 17β-estradiol or testosterone activity with different potencies, and DEHP possessed weaker anti-thyroid hormone activity. 2,4-D showed no agonist or antagonist activity against these hormone receptors, but it significantly enhanced the activity of testosterone through AR. Furthermore, the mixture of DEHP and CPF exhibited stronger ER and AR antagonist activities than each single component alone, but their combined effects were less than the expected effects based on the additive model. These results implied that the transcription activation mediated by hormone receptors was the potential endocrine-disrupting mechanism of the test chemicals. Our study also provided useful tools for evaluation of their endocrine disrupting activity.

Liansheng Chen

Papers

Developing in vitro reporter gene assays to assess the hormone receptor activities of chemicals frequently detected in drinking water