Human BPA contamination is confirmed by study
admin February 28th, 2008
I read this today in the peer-reviewed journal “Science”
“SHINY, PLASTIC PEOPLE
You may already be a part of Ken and Barbie’s plastic family. A new U.S. government study suggests that the bodies of most Americans are laced with bisphenol A (BPA), the primary component of one of the most widely used plastics.
BPA is an ingredient in polycarbonate plastics, used in everything from baby bottles to composite dental fillings to toy dolls. Frequent use and heating can cause the plastic to break down, leaching BPA into whatever the plastic touches, including food. Although recent studies have linked BPA to reproductive problems in lab animals, little is known about humans and BPA.
To measure BPA exposure, chemist Antonia Calafat and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, examined urine samples from 2517 participants in the ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Significant levels of BPA were present in 92% of the samples. Those with the highest levels were children and adolescents, women, and low-income participants.
The body metabolizes BPA in only a few hours, suggesting that exposure to BPA is continuous, says epidemiologist Russ Hauser of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. Although the jury’s still out on what high exposures mean for human health, Hauser says industry should consider alternatives that aren’t biologically active.”
I had heard several mentions about BPA in the blogosphere, but I had wondered if this was perhaps a case of people becoming alarmed at something that was not truly of concern. Perhaps the amounts of this stuff were very small. Perhaps we weren’t really absorbing it. To my knowledge, previous studies have been conducted in animals, and while this information is very useful, animal models do not always correlate well with human biology. Well now they have found this stuff in people. It appears that this is a real phenomenon. Of course, as the article says, we don’t have a firm handle on what this means to human health, these findings are truly alarming.
If you would like to read some very thoughtful writing on this subject that includes information on how to remove BPA leaching products from your home, I highly recommend a post by Michelle at mihow.com.
http://mihow.com/articles/2008/1/28/waging-war-against-bisphenol-a