BPA restriction proposal and EFSA opinion
REACH restriction of bisphenols
Background
On the 7th of October 2022, the German Federal Environmental Protection Agency in cooperation with the German Federal Institute of Occupational Safety and Health submitted a proposal to restrict uses of bisphenols of which some are key raw materials for epoxy resins, and of bisphenol-containing articles and mixtures that lead to releases of bisphenols to the environment.
The proposal foresees a threshold residual concentration below which no action needs to be taken. This threshold is different for articles made with Liquid Epoxy Resins, LER, and Solid Epoxy Resins, SER. “Concentration limit of 10 ppm for articles made of Liquid Epoxy Resins and 65 ppm for the placing on the market of articles manufactured with Solid and Semisolid Epoxy Resins. Concentration limit of 1 ppm for epoxy resin mixtures intended for consumer uses”.
REACH restriction on bisphenols: Epoxy Europe calls for a proportionate restriction targeting the main emission sources of bisphenols
Restriction timeline:
A public consultation is ongoing where Epoxy Europe and value chain partners are submitting comments on the feasibility and implications of the proposed restriction. The proposal will be subject to scrutiny by the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) and the Socio-Economic Assessment Committee (SEAC) of ECHA during the restriction process. Please see below an indicative timeline for the process.
Epoxy Europe invites the value chain to participate in this public consultation
which is open until the 22nd of June.
EFSA opinion on BPA
Epoxy Europe does not support the evaluation methodology employed by EFSA to derive a new Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) value for Bisphenol A (BPA) and therefore the resulting derived TDI. As such, Epoxy Europe suggests pausing any legally binding implementation until more evidence on the relevance of this TDI for the given regulation is provided.
EFSA opinion: Epoxy Europe calls for a halt before setting legally binding values on the basis of the opinion.
METHODS FOR BPA AND BPF MEASUREMENT
These standard operating procedures (SOP) developed by Solvias describe quantitative test methods for the determination of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in liquid (1) and solid (2) epoxy resins by liquid chromatography-mass spectometry (LC/MS). The specific mass of Bisphenol A is measured in the selected ion monitoring mode (SIM -mode).
Method 1: SOP C52.S1593_02 ; method used to determine Bisphenol-A in different BPA-epoxy resins (liquid).
Method 2: CSOP-0724_01 ; method for the determination of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in solid epoxy resins by LC/MS.
Method 3: SOP ; method for the determination of Bisphenol-F (BPF) in liquid epoxy resins
BADGE
Other epoxy building blocks
Consumer exposure
Human biomonitoring
BPA RESTRICTION PROPOSAL