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| | | From: Rene (Original Message) | Sent: 3/14/2007 12:58 AM |
Chemical Linked to Birth Defects - Bisphenol A - Found at Unsafe Levels in Canned Food
Plastics Compound Highest in Soup, Pasta, Baby Formula
Environmental Working Group, For Immediate Release: March 5, 2007
Straight to the Source: Web Note: See the full EWG report at .ewg.org/reports/bisphenola/execsumm.php
WASHINGTON, March 5 �?In the most comprehensive U.S. tests for an industrial chemical used to line cans of foods, an independent laboratory found a compound linked to birth defects in more than half of the samples of canned fruit, vegetables, soda, and baby formula from supermarket shelves, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) report released today.
The lab tests conducted for EWG found bisphenol A, or BPA, in 55 of 97 cans of food purchased from major supermarket chains in California, Connecticut and Georgia. The lab tested 27 national name brands and three store brands. The potential for BPA to cause birth defects and reproductive harm is being evaluated today by a federal advisory panel at the Center for Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR), a division of the National Institutes of Health. Major concerns have been raised regarding the integrity of CERHR science and conflicts of interest on the part of a Center contractor, Sciences International (SI). SI plays a major management role in CERHR operations while at the same time doing business with a client base that includes manufacturers of chemicals under review by the Center, including BPA. BPA is an ingredient in plastics and the epoxy resins that line food cans. Low doses of BPA lead to a range of health problems, including birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in laboratory animals. Despite the growing evidence of risk to human health, there are no limits on the amount of BPA allowed in canned food. The tests found that pregnant women and infants who eat even a single serving of some canned foods are exposed to unsafe doses of BPA. Of the foods tested—which included many of the canned foods eaten most often by women of childbearing age—BPA levels were highest in canned pasta and soup. Canned infant formula also had high levels. Just one to three servings of food with these BPA levels could expose a pregnant woman or infant to harmful doses of the chemical. "BPA reads like a case study of how badly our chemical safety system is broken," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research at EWG. "We've known it's toxic for 75 years, it's polluting the bodies of almost all Americans, but we allow it in our food at levels that leave no margin of safety for pregnant women and young children." Scientists have detected BPA in breast milk, serum, saliva, urine, amniotic fluid, and cord blood from at least 2,200 people in Europe, North America, and Asia. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently detected BPA in 95% of nearly 400 U.S. adults and children. The last comprehensive review of low dose studies found that the overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed studies�?4 of 115—of have confirmed BPA's toxicity at low levels of exposure. Few chemicals have been found to consistently display such a diverse range of harm at such low doses.
Provided by Organic Consumers Association on 3/5/2007
Published on Monday, March 05, 2007; by Healthy News Service
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| | | From: Rene | Sent: 10/5/2007 10:46 PM |
Reproductive Disorders Probably Caused by Common Plastic Ingredient, Scientists Say By Brandon KeimAugust 03, 2007 ; Thirty-eight scientists said on Thursday that Bisphenol A, an ingredient in hard plastics and one of the most common chemicals in the world, is probably causing reproductive disorders in people. The unusually strong statement was published online in the journal Reproductive Technology, where the scientists reviewed 700 studies before concluding that the people are regularly exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) levels above those shown to harm lab animals. The article was accompanied by an NIH study showing that newborn animals exposed to BPA suffer uterine damage, which in women is linked to reproductive diseases and cancers. The chemical industry rejected the warning, saying the scientists suffered from ideological conflicts of interest and citing governmental findings that BPA is safe. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Two government scientific committees in Europe and Japan recently decided there was insufficient evidence to restrict the compound. Europe's food safety agency decided in January that the data were inconclusive, largely because of metabolic differences between mice and humans, and because it is uncertain that the amounts people are exposed to pose a health threat. To that, University of Missouri-Columbia reproductive toxicologist Frederick vorn Saal fired back: "There is essentially no difference in the way that rat or mouse cells respond to BPA and the way that humans respond to it," Vom Saal said. Though the amount in humans "may seem like an incredibly small amount, it causes effects in human cells at the part-per-trillion level," he said. And the lead author of the uterine damage study, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences researcher Retha Newbold, said BPA caused reproductive tract damage similar to the anti-miscarriage drug DES (diethylstilbestrol), a synthetic estrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women from the 1940s until the late 1970s. The drug led to "DES daughters," who were born with reproductive defects that caused infertility and cancers. Next week an expert NIH panel will meet to decide whether to categorize BPA as a reproductive toxin. The panel ran into trouble in March when the Los Angeles Times reported that its preliminary BPA report was "written by a consulting firm with financial ties to the chemical industry that has since been fired." My guess is that the panel will call for large-scale epidemiological studies that correlate BPA exposuress with reproductive disorders. The big question, then, is who will be charged with conducting the studies -- independent scientists, or researchers with industry connections? Let's hope for the former. · Scientists issue warning on chemical [Los Angeles Times] · Human exposure to bisphenol a (BPA) [Reproductive Toxicology] · Long-term Adverse Effects of Neonatal Exposure to Bisphenol A on the Murine Female Reproductive Tract [Reproductive Toxicology] Scientists warn of chemicals in plastic LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- U.S. scientists warn the chemicals bisphenol A or BPA -- found in plastic -- could cause serious reproductive disorders. BPA, an estrogen-like compound used to make hard plastic, is used in polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, large water cooler containers, sports bottles, microwave oven dishes, canned food liners and some dental sealants, the Los Angeles Times said Friday. The scientists, who reviewed about 700 studies, said people are exposed to levels of the chemical exceeding those that harm lab animals. The warning, published online by the journal Reproductive Toxicology, was accompanied by a study from the National Institutes of Health finding uterine damage in newborn animals exposed to BPA, the newspaper said. Representatives of the plastics industry dismissed the statement by the scientists, saying the conclusions were based on inconsistent and uncertain science. Abstract The developing fetus is uniquely sensitive to perturbation by chemicals with hormone-like activity. The adverse effects of prenatal diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure are a classic example. Since concern has been mounting regarding the human health and environmental effects of bisphenol A (BPA), a high-production-volume chemical with estrogenic activity used in the synthesis of plastics, we investigated its long-term effects in an experimental animal model that was previously shown useful in studying the adverse effects of developmental exposure to DES. Outbred female CD-1 mice were treated on days 1-5 with subcutaneous injections of BPA (10, 100 or 1000 μg/kg/day) dissolved in corn oil or corn oil alone (Control). At 18 months, ovaries and reproductive tract tissues were examined. There was a statistically significant increase in cystic ovaries and cystic endometrial hyperplasia (CEH) in the BPA-100 group as compared to Controls. Progressive proliferative lesion (PPL) of the oviduct and cystic mesonephric (Wolffian) duct remnants were also seen in all of the BPA groups. More severe pathologies of the uterus following neonatal BPA treatment included adenomyosis, leiomyomas, atypical hyperplasia, and stromal polyps. These data suggest that BPA causes long-term adverse effects if exposure occurs during critical periods of differentiation. Keywords: Endocrine disruptors; Ovary; Uterus; Reproduction; Developmental From: [http://www.sciencedirect.com] Reproductive Toxicology Volume 24, Issue 2, August-September 2007, Pages 253-258 |
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| | | From: Rene | Sent: 11/23/2007 11:20 PM |
Health Canada Reviews Controversial Chemical Bisphenol A is the chief ingredient in polycarbonate plastic, and besides baby bottles, is used in canned goods, office-cooler-style water jugs, compact discs, dental sealants, sports helmets and many other consumer products. It is often identified by the plastic industry symbol of the number 7 enclosed in a triangle. Health Canada recently announced it has started a risk assessment into the safety of this chemical.
Although bisphenol has been commonly used for over 50 years, recent studies have associated it with a variety of health problems, including obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, breast cancer and a wide range of developmental problems. While scientists, manufactures and environmentalists will continue to debate the use of chemicals in popular products for years to come, SPUD believes it is important to provide you with information and a variety of choices.
We're checking up on other suppliers to see what steps they're taking towards alternative packaging.
In the meantime, we are pleased to inform you that Eden Organic Food products do not contain bisphenol A. Eden uses lead free, tin covered, steel cans coated with a baked on oleoresinous (a natural mixture of an oil and a resin extracted from various plants, such as pine or balsam fir) c-enamel lining. Reported in the Spud.ca weekly news |
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| | | From: Rene | Sent: 2/5/2008 10:02 PM |
Health: STUDY: PLASTIC BOTTLES Boiling water spikes bisphenol A levels
Sterilizing polycarbonate baby bottles boost amount of the chemical leaching into drinks, tests suggest
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT;
ENVIRONMENT REPORTER January 30, 2008 Adding boiling water to polycarbonate plastic bottles causes a dramatic spike in the amount of bisphenol A, or BPA, leaching from containers into drinks, according to a U.S. research team. The finding suggests that parents sterilizing polycarbonate baby bottles by heating them in water or in a microwave may be inadvertently increasing the amount of the estrogen-mimicking chemical leaching from the containers. It also indicates hikers who use the bottles as a thermos to store hot tea or liquids may be doing the same. The addition of boiling water increased BPA migration rates by up to 55-fold compared with water at room temperature, according to experiments run at the University of Cincinnati. A paper outlining the findings is being released today in Toxicology Letters, a peer-reviewed journal. The researchers tested both new bottles and old, scratched bottles whose plastic had turned opaque, and found age of the containers didn't influence how much BPA they leached in an hour, but adding hot water to them did. "In our study, it didn't make a difference. What made the difference was temperature," said Scott Belcher, the lead researcher and associate professor at the university's college of medicine. Concerns over possible health risks posed by BPA led Mountain Equipment Co-op, one of Canada's largest sporting goods retailers, to remove polycarbonate plastic bottles, such as the popular Nalgene brand, from its shelves late last year, pending the outcome of a continuing Health Canada evaluation into the chemical. Bisphenol A is being reviewed because of health concerns that exposure to the hormone-like chemical could be a factor in recent health trends, such as increasing rates of prostate cancer, earlier onset of puberty in girls and declining sperm counts. In a second part of the new research, scientists took water that had been stored in polycarbonate bottles and added it to cell cultures derived from rat brains. They found that the BPA-contaminated water, even at incredibly small concentrations of less than a part per billion of the chemical, had an effect similar to estrogen in killing cells. Many scientists, however, down play test tube results because they may not necessarily predict what would happen in living things. Nonetheless, the study takes on added importance in Canada because its gives a glimpse into what Health Canada may be finding through its own research. The federal agency is subjecting polycarbonate plastic bottles to so-called migration tests to see how much BPA they're leaching, but hasn't published results. In an e-mail response to questions posed by The Globe and Mail, Health Canada said it has conducted initial studies into how much BPA is shed from plastic bottles, but didn't use high-temperature conditions in the experiments, a lapse it is now remedying. "Health Canada is aware that bisphenol A migration from [polycarbonate] is temperature dependent and in its assessment of BPA is reviewing the results of all available studies from other countries," it said. The federal agency said it is currently running boiling water tests "and the results, when available, will be considered in the context of different potential consumer-use scenarios." Bisphenol A is a key building block of polycarbonate plastic, often identified by the chemical industry's recycling symbol of a triangle encasing the number 7. It is also used to make the epoxy resins lining the insides of most tin cans, compact discs, dental fillings and sport helmets, among its dozens of consumer uses. Although adults can rapidly metabolize and excrete BPA they ingest, most people are exposed to the compound constantly through food and beverage containers, and maintain blood levels of it around the low parts per billion, according to an independent research summary issued last year. A part per billion is equal to one second of elapsed time over 32 years. Although this is a minute exposure, natural hormones produced by living things are active at even lower amounts, typically around a part per trillion, or a thousand times less. In the new study, researchers found that boiled water allowed to cool in polycarbonate bottles contained up to 7.7 ppb of BPA after 24 hours. Water added at room temperature had far less, with amounts typically well under one ppb. from: [http://www.theglobeandmail.com]
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| | | From: Rene | Sent: 2/5/2008 11:22 PM |
The results, published in the latest edition of the journal Toxicology Letters, found that with room temperature water the rate of release from individual bottles ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 nanograms of bisphenol A an hour. After exposure to boiling water, rates increased to 8 to 32 nanograms an hour. "A nanogram is a fairly small amount but, given that a lot of hormones work at levels far below that, even if it's not as potent as a natural hormone, you are in the range there which could be contributing to adverse effects," said Santillo. He added that Belcher's research should renew calls to develop alternative materials for baby milk bottles. "Newborn babies are at a very sensitive stage of their development and the last thing you want to be doing is dosing them with a very potent hormone disruptor," he said. "If there are ways of avoiding that, the time has come for the public to know about those." From: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jan/30/sciencenews.health] |
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