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Tragic failures
Published in Friedo Zölzer, Gaston Meskens, Environmental Health Risks, 2018
There are several more general shortcomings of postmarket laws: If consumers and businesses have concerns about products being toxic, they cannot choose between more toxic and less toxic alternatives. There is no economic market that would allow consumers to choose between less toxic alternatives, because so little is known about the vast majority of chemical creations.For example, after British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, BP sought to use a common oil dispersant to break up large oil slicks into droplets. Was it safe? Top EPA officials were aware it had some ecological and human risks. When asked about alternatives to this product and whether they were safer, they could not offer any guidance because they knew nothing about the risks of alternative dispersants (Demarini 2012).Bisphenol A (BPA) illustrates an analogous problem. By now this is a well-known endocrine disrupter that is being discontinued because of scientific concerns and public pressure. However, companies continue to have needs that BPA fulfilled; what chemical creations should they use? Apparently, they have opted for one or two products quite similar to BPA: Bisphenol S (BPS) or Bisphenol F (BPF). Do they pose risks? For the most part the scientific assessment is still out, but both seem to have the same order of estrogenic potency as BPS or estradiol (Rochester and Bolden 2015).Toxic ignorance hampers responses to chemical emergencies or spills. When West Virginians were threatened by the spilling of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, or MCHM, was it risky, dangerous, or safe? Scientists did not know because by entering commerce under TSCA, there was no toxicity data about it. Only now, long after people have been exposed to MCHM in their water, is a scientific body of data being developed, but not much is yet known about this product.Importantly, because few scientific data are produced simultaneously with commercialization, research likely starts from scratch to determine any toxicity after products are in commerce. Thus, once investigators suspect a substance may be toxic because of early testing, they likely have a sparse scientific from which to work. One can compare these effects with premarket testing and approval laws: substantial toxicity research has already been done and there are publicly accessible data about the product (at least to the agencies that approved it) and there may also be adverse reaction reports sent to the administrative agency, especially for pharmaceuticals. Consequently, researchers can turn to both sources to glean whatever toxicity information may be in the record. Moreover, there may be clues to toxicity that were missed during premarket review that can be understood after new tests suggest toxic effects.
Toxicological profile of bisphenol F via comprehensive and extensive toxicity evaluations following dermal exposure
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2022
Sang-Sik Lee, Hyeon-Yeol Ryu, Kyu-Sup Ahn, Somin Lee, Jiho Lee, Jae Won Lee, Soo Min Ko, Woo-Chan Son
The use of bisphenol A (BPA, 4,4′-(propane-2,2-diyl)diphenol), an industrial chemical used worldwide, reached 1.6 million tons in 2019 (PR Newswire 2019). Bisphenol A has been used as an additive in various materials, such as polycarbonate and epoxy resins, which are applied as the inner coating of food cans (Lim et al. 2009; Tsai 2006). Despite widespread usability, BPA has been classified as an endocrine-disrupting substance, producing developmental and metabolic disorders, decreased fertility, and premature sexual maturity (Bae et al. 2012; Hwang et al. 2018; Ikezuki et al. 2002; Inadera et al. 2015; Rochester 2013; Vandenberg et al. 2007; Weber et al. 2015). In particular, BPA-mediated effects on male reproductive system development have been intensively studied over the past decade (De Campos et al. 2019; Manfo et al. 2014; Pollard et al. 2019; Zhou et al. 2020). Given these growing concerns, chemicals structurally similar to BPA, particularly bisphenol F (BPF, 4,4′-dihydroxydiphenyl-methane) and bisphenol S (BPS, 4,4′-sulfonylbisphenol), are gradually replacing its use in various industries (Rocha et al. 2015; Vervliet et al. 2019).
Comparison of the accelerating effect of graphene oxide and graphene on anaerobic transformation of bisphenol F by Pseudomonas sp. LS
Published in Environmental Technology, 2022
Hong Lu, Jingyi Li, Ze Fu, Xiaolei Wang, Jiti Zhou, Jing Wang
Bisphenol compounds are important chemical raw materials for the production of epoxy, polycarbonate and polyester resins, which are widely used in food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries [1]. With the prohibition on bisphenol A (BPA) in some applications, the usage of bisphenol F (BPF) as a main substitute of BPA gradually increases, resulting in the release of more BPF into the environment [2,3]. In China, BPF has been detected in soil, sediment, natural water (such as river and lakes) and various wastewaters, with a concentration range of 0.0068−2.8 μg/L [3,4]. As BPF can interfere with the endocrine system, and affect growth and reproduction toward aquatic organisms [5], BPF treatment has received increasing attention.