Bisphenol A

This chapter reviews the latest research on bisphenol A (BPA), including human exposure, discussions of biomonitoring studies, and toxickinetic models, human health effects and research needs, and experimental studies on low dose effects on the reproductive, neurodevelopmental, and metabolic systems. While the objective here is not to conduct a risk assessment nor directly inform public policy, the emergent body of knowledge about BPA serves as an important resource for regulators and policy makers faced with the challenge of integrating new tools, technologies, and understandings of disease etiology into risk assessment methodologies and assumptions. The research on BPA reflects an important shift in toxicity testing toward studies that use dosing levels relevant to human exposure and end points of human relevance. The relevance and reliability of the research reviewed here provides a solid foundation of knowledge from which toxicologists, epidemiologists, public health practitioners, and policy makers may draw from and build upon to inform their research and decision making.