Wednesday, October 13, 2010 | 5:56 PM ET
CBC News
BPA is found in food cans and some plastic containers. (Jim Young/Reuters)
Bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used to make some hard plastic containers, bottles and toys, has officially been declared a toxic substance in Canada.
The federal government added BPA to Canada's toxic substances list on Wednesday.
"We are continuing our leadership on this issue and Canadians can rest assured that we are working hard to monitor and manage bisphenol A," Environment Minister Jim Prentice said in a statement.
BPA, also found in resins that coat the interior of food cans to prevent corrosion, has been shown to mimic the hormone estrogen and does not occur naturally in the environment.
In August, Statistics Canada reported that measurable levels of BPA were found in the urine of 91 per cent of Canadians aged six to 79.
"Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of [the Canadian Environmental Protection Act]," the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette.
