News

As part of its assessment of the risks associated with bisphenol A, ANSES is today publishing two reports: one on the health effects of bisphenol A and the other on its uses. This work highlights health effects that have been proven in animals and suspected in humans, even at low levels of exposure. These effects may also depend greatly on individuals being exposed during different phases of their development, which means that it may be possible to identify categories of people who are particularly vulnerable to bisphenol A. This work is one step in a continuing risk assessment process. The Agency considers, however, that it now has enough scientific evidence to be able to identify that the priority should be to prevent exposure of the most susceptible populations, such as infants, young children, and pregnant and breastfeeding women. This objective entails reducing exposure to bisphenol A, mainly by replacing it in the food contact materials that are the main source of exposure of these populations. In this context, the Agency is submitting the findings of its work for consultation and is issuing a call for contributions in order to collect, by the end of November 2011, any relevant scientific data concerning, in particular, the available substitutes and their safety and effectiveness.

Following the discovery of wild animal carcasses in the Gouessant estuary, the Ministry of Agriculture requested that ANSES determine the causes of their death. In view of all the available data, the hypothesis of poisoning by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is the most probable, although it is impossible to confirm whether this was the only factor contributing to this case of mass mortality. ANSES recommends further studies and emphasises that the health issues associated with the decomposition of green algae and the production of H2S on mudflats call for an investigation into the gas emissions from estuary bottoms and some river beds.

Formamide is classified as a reprotoxic substance (1B) under the terms of European regulations (1). At the end of 2010, when it was shown to be present in foam puzzle mats intended for young children, France's Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) suspended all marketing of these items. At the same time, it asked ANSES to carry out an expert assessment of the hazards associated with this substance, to identify its uses in common consumer goods and to assess the risks related to its presence in puzzle mats. The Agency issued a preliminary report in March 2011 and has today published an Opinion and a Collective Expert Assessment Report on the uses of formamide in common consumer goods and, more specifically, on the risks related to the presence of this substance in foam puzzle mats.

As of 22 June 2011, cases of bloody diarrhoea and haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) occurred in adults, mostly women, in the Bordeaux area. These people were infected by a strain of Escherichia coli belonging to the serotype O104:H4, a bacterium which is genetically related to that responsible for the epidemic reported in Germany in May 2011. The epidemiological investigation conducted in France quickly identified the source of this contamination as being the consumption of sprouts (fenugreek sprouts in particular) at a local fair in early June. The clustering of the outbreaks in Germany and then in France and the points they have in common (involving the same strain of bacteria, rarely found up to now in cases of food poisoning, and also the same suspected origin of the sprouts) led the investigators to suppose that there was a common source of contamination. A trace-back study, coordinated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) revealed that there was a link with the consumption of seeds imported from Egypt (report published on 5 July 2011)(1).