Background & objective: Bisphenol A (BPA) is an estrogen analogue; one of the xenoestrogens that has crawled into our lives over last 3 decades via plastic water containers (pet bottles, water cans, baby feeding bottle etc), food and beverage cans, the jar caps, water and milk pouches, toys, thermal paper rolls, dental implants, medical equipment and has now been affecting us in multifarious ways by acting through ERs in many signaling pathways. Thus it is involved in the pathogenesis of different endocrine disorders including female and male infertility, precocious puberty, hormone dependent tumours such as breast and prostate cancer and several fertility disorders including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS); the estrogenic effects being cited maximum.
Material and methods: With the objective to study BPA leaching from different plastic containers different water samples were collected for which underground water (from tube well) which was presumed to be the purest form and devoid of BPA leaching from any source and samples from new and scratched pet bottles, new and scratched baby feeding bottle, water pouch, water heated in plastic bowl in a microwave oven, hot water poured in BPA-free plastic container and an ordinary polythene bag were assayed for BPA by HPLC with PDA detector.
Result: Taking tube-well water sample as control, the water samples from new pet bottle, scratched pet bottle, water pouch, new pet bottle exposed to sunlight for 2 months, BPA free plastic container, new and used baby feeding bottle and hot water poured into an ordinary polythene carry bag showed increase in BPA content which had statistical significances as 0.58, 0.001, 0.001, 0.001, 0.55, 0.8, 0.0056, 0.000001 respectively.
Conclusion: With the rising incidence of cancer and especially female breast cancer, BPA leaching into commonly used water sources may turn out as a strong risk factor. Government should take bold steps towards quality control measures for such water containers and enforce ban on hot food and beverage carriage in recycled poly bags altogether.