Is BPA lurking in your canned soup?

Masterfile

Soup and sweater season is once again upon us, and so it's with a heavy heart that I bring you this news: Your soup might be poisoning you. (Sweaters have not, thus far, been implicated in any wrongdoing beyond the appearance of excess bulkiness.)

According to a recent story by Michelle Roberts over at the BBC — "Eating canned soup 'poses a chemical risk'" — a chemical used to line tin soup cans leach into the soup and end up in the body. The chemical, bisphenol A (BPA), was easily ingested and found in high concentrations in the urine of study volunteers. A study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health found that if consuming just one tin of soup per day, the amount of BPA present in the body increased by 20 times.

BPA is a coating used on tin cans and some bottles to prevent rusting and keep things fresh, but it's been dogged by charges of potentially negative health consequences for those who ingest it. An American study found an association between consumption of BPA and rates of heart disease and diabetes. Canada was the first country to declare BPA toxic — though it is still used in a number of consumer products — due to concerns about possible links to prostate disease, breast cancer, fertility issues, and behaviour problems in children. And in Europe, BPA has been banned from baby bottles — it's feared that the chemical might hinder development and compromise immune function in young children, and may contribute to the formation of tumours.

So maybe it's time to try some of those homemade soups you've had your eye on?

How worried are you about traces of BPA in canned products? Does it deter you from purcahsing them? Please share your thoughts here.