Bisphenol A - History

History

Bisphenol A was discovered in 1891 by Russian chemist Aleksandr Dianin. In the early 1930s the British chemist Charles Edward Dodds recognized BPA as an artificial estrogen. During that time BPA had two initial uses. The first use of BPA was to enhance the growth of cattle and poultry. The second use of BPA in the mid 1930s was as an estrogen replacement for women. BPA's ability to mimic the effects of natural estrogen derive from the similarity of phenol groups on both BPA and estradiol, which enable this synthetic molecule to trigger estrogenic pathways in the body. BPA was only briefly used as an estrogen replacement and was replaced by diethylstilbestrol (DES). Based on research by chemists at Bayer and General Electric, BPA has been used since the 1950s to harden polycarbonate plastics and make epoxy resin, and in the lining of food and beverage containers. The first evidence of the estrogenicity of bisphenol A came from experiments on rats conducted in the 1930s, but it was not until 1997 that adverse effects of low-dose exposure on laboratory animals were first proposed (hormesis). Modern studies began finding possible connections to health issues caused by exposure to BPA during pregnancy and during development. See Government and industry response. Research is ongoing and the debate continues as to whether BPA should be banned or not, and to what extent, all over the world. In 2010 Canada's department of the environment declared BPA to be a "toxic substance".