A Multimedia Assessment of the Environmental Fate of Bisphenol A

Abstract

A comprehensive multimedia assessment of the environmental fate of bisphenol A (BPA) is presented. Components of the assessment include an evaluation of relevant partitioning and reactive properties, estimation of discharge quantities in the U.S. and the European Union (E.U.) resulting in conservative and realistic emission scenarios, and a review of monitoring data. Evaluative assessments of chemical fate using the Equilibrium Criterion (EQC) model are described from which it is concluded that the low volatility of BPA will result in negligible presence in the atmosphere. It is relatively rapidly degraded in the environment with half-lives in water and soil of about 4.5 days and less than 1 day in air, and with an overall half-life of 4.5 to 4.7 days, depending on the medium of release. The degradation rate in water is such that it may be transported some hundreds of kilometres in rivers, but long-range transport potential in air is negligible. Its low bioconcentration factor is consistent with rapid metabolism in fish (half-life less than 1 day). The estimated concentrations were generally consistent with the monitoring data, with the exception of sediment-water concentration ratios. Several hypotheses for the apparent nonequilibrium sediment-water partitioning are presented.