Migration of bisphenol A from polycarbonate baby bottles under real use conditions

Abstract

Migration of the potential endocrine disrupter, bisphenol A (BPA), from 31 polycarbonate (PC) baby bottles into aqueous food simulants was studied under real repetitive use, using a sensitive and fully validated liquid chromatographic method with fluorescence detection. Confirmation of the presence of BPA was performed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). The effects of cleaning in a dishwasher or with a brush, sterilization with boiling water and the temperature of migration were examined. It was shown that temperature was the crucial factor for the migration of BPA from the plastic bottles to water. All samples released BPA in the concentration range 2.4–14.3 µg kg⁻¹ when filled with boiled water and left at ambient temperature for 45 min. The decrease of BPA release in the sterilization water and in the food simulant over 12 cycles of use indicated that the hypothesis of polymer degradation in water is dubious. Estimated infantile dietary exposure, regarding the use of PC baby bottles, ranged between 0.2 and 2.2 µg kg⁻¹ bw day⁻¹, which is below the Tolerable Daily Intake of 50 µg kg⁻¹ bw recently established by EFSA.

Keywords:

• Bisphenol A
• xenoestrogens
• migration
• infants
• feeding bottles
• HPLC–FLD
• LC–MS
• polymer hydrolysis