April 16, 2008 - U.S. Report Links BPA to Health Problems
Bisphenol-A or BPA, a common chemical used in polycarbonate plastic products, may be linked to a variety of hormonal health problems, according to a recent government report. The report was prepared by scientists from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study shows that rats injected with or fed low doses of BPA developed precancerous tumors, urinary tract problems, and early onset puberty.
In March, a national environmental group requested that companies stop using BPA to make baby bottles. At the time, the FDA said that BPA was safe. However, critics of the chemical maintained that BPA causes hormonal, neurological, and behavioral problems. “The reproductive system is developing, the brain is developing, the immune system is developing,” said the director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany. Knowing that, he said, it is “absolutely obscene” to expose infants to BPA.
The Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction at the National Toxicology Center gathered a panel of experts last month to discuss whether BPA is a danger to humans, especially developing babies. The panel determined that exposure to BPA causes a risk of neural and behavioral effects in children.
The FDA commented in November that there is no reason to restrict or ban the use of BPA. Representative John Dingell (Democrat-Michigan), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, urged the FDA to reconsider, arguing that the toxicology report’s findings “fly in the face of the FDA’s determination.” Proposed state legislation aims to limit or prohibit the use of BPA in several U.S. states, and a number of stores have stopped selling polycarbonate bottles.
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