abdulhakeem
07-08-07, 08:28 PM
Roger Highfield
03/08/2007
A warning about a possible link with breast and prostate cancers from a hormone-like chemical found in everyday plastic products such as food containers and water bottles has been issued by an international expert group.
Earlier this week a study of animals concluded that exposure within the womb to bisphenol A (BPA), a bulk chemical used in the production of plastics and resins, could cause changes in offspring linked with diseases such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.
Now new evidence has been published linking the chemical to possible health effects as an expert group of 38 researchers from around the world studying BPA issued a "consensus statement" in the journal Reproductive Toxicology based on more than 700 studies.
The statement was on the potential human impact of this ubiquitous chemical, one that has effects similar to those of the female sex hormone oestrogen, drawn up after a meeting sponsored in part by the US Government.
Lead author, Prof Fred vom Saal of the University of Missouri, Columbia, said this work marks the first expert verdict on the impact, enough to warn the public: "BPA has become a chemical of "high concern" only in recent years, even though BPA was shown to stimulate the reproductive system in female rats and thus to be an "environmental oestrogen" in 1936," long before it was first used in plastics and resins in the early 1950s.
Animal studies in recent decades have raised concerns about the potential for a relationship between BPA and a spectrum of illness, from abnormal development of reproductive organs to early sexual maturation in females, behavioural problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, an increase in childhood and adult obesity and type 2 diabetes, decrease in sperm count, and an increase in hormonally-influenced cancers, such as prostate and breast cancers.
BPA does not persist in the environment but, due to the large amounts in use, exposure as a result of it leaching out of food and beverage containers is continuous and "within the range that is predicted to be biologically active in over 95% of people sampled."
The chemical industry has said that levels are too low to cause concern but Prof vom Saal said that some effects are seen at extremely low doses in animal studies - "even below one part per trillion" - and there are particular concerns about the unborn and newborn child, where "epigenetic effects" may be the cause of harm by changes, not to genes themselves but the way they are used in the body.
A new study published in the journal by a team including Laura Vandenberg of Tufts University, Boston "for the first time, concludes that the levels of BPA measured in people are higher than levels sufficient to cause a range of adverse effects in laboratory animals."
A second study by Retha Newbold of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences likened the effects of BPA to another hormone-like chemical diethylstilbestrol (DES) in women some years ago, notably uterine fibroids, cystic ovaries, and excessive growth of the lining of the uterus. "These data suggest that BPA causes long-term adverse effects if exposure occurs during critical periods early in life."
The consensus group concludes from a broad survey of these and other data in a workshop that exposure is widespread and "may increase susceptibility to development of cancers in some organs, such as the prostate and mammary glands”, that exposure early in life "may result in persistent adverse effects in humans" and that the "function of the immune system can be altered following adult exposure to BPA."
However, they did highlight areas of uncertainty and suggestions for future research on uptake of BPA and whether it can accumulate in the body, the effects down generations, among other things. There is also a lack of human data and now studies have to be done to hunt for links between BPA exposure and ill health.
"The fact that very few epidemiological studies have been conducted to address the issue of the potential for BPA to impact human health is a concern, and more research is clearly needed. This also applies to wildlife, both aquatic and terrestrial."
"The latest opinion of the European Food Standards Authority - January 2007 - is that BPA is not an issue at trace levels i.e. that which could potentially be consumed from food and drink intake," commented a spokesman for the Chemical Industries Association in the UK. "We think they are right".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/03/sciplastic103.xml
03/08/2007
A warning about a possible link with breast and prostate cancers from a hormone-like chemical found in everyday plastic products such as food containers and water bottles has been issued by an international expert group.
Earlier this week a study of animals concluded that exposure within the womb to bisphenol A (BPA), a bulk chemical used in the production of plastics and resins, could cause changes in offspring linked with diseases such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.
Now new evidence has been published linking the chemical to possible health effects as an expert group of 38 researchers from around the world studying BPA issued a "consensus statement" in the journal Reproductive Toxicology based on more than 700 studies.
The statement was on the potential human impact of this ubiquitous chemical, one that has effects similar to those of the female sex hormone oestrogen, drawn up after a meeting sponsored in part by the US Government.
Lead author, Prof Fred vom Saal of the University of Missouri, Columbia, said this work marks the first expert verdict on the impact, enough to warn the public: "BPA has become a chemical of "high concern" only in recent years, even though BPA was shown to stimulate the reproductive system in female rats and thus to be an "environmental oestrogen" in 1936," long before it was first used in plastics and resins in the early 1950s.
Animal studies in recent decades have raised concerns about the potential for a relationship between BPA and a spectrum of illness, from abnormal development of reproductive organs to early sexual maturation in females, behavioural problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, an increase in childhood and adult obesity and type 2 diabetes, decrease in sperm count, and an increase in hormonally-influenced cancers, such as prostate and breast cancers.
BPA does not persist in the environment but, due to the large amounts in use, exposure as a result of it leaching out of food and beverage containers is continuous and "within the range that is predicted to be biologically active in over 95% of people sampled."
The chemical industry has said that levels are too low to cause concern but Prof vom Saal said that some effects are seen at extremely low doses in animal studies - "even below one part per trillion" - and there are particular concerns about the unborn and newborn child, where "epigenetic effects" may be the cause of harm by changes, not to genes themselves but the way they are used in the body.
A new study published in the journal by a team including Laura Vandenberg of Tufts University, Boston "for the first time, concludes that the levels of BPA measured in people are higher than levels sufficient to cause a range of adverse effects in laboratory animals."
A second study by Retha Newbold of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences likened the effects of BPA to another hormone-like chemical diethylstilbestrol (DES) in women some years ago, notably uterine fibroids, cystic ovaries, and excessive growth of the lining of the uterus. "These data suggest that BPA causes long-term adverse effects if exposure occurs during critical periods early in life."
The consensus group concludes from a broad survey of these and other data in a workshop that exposure is widespread and "may increase susceptibility to development of cancers in some organs, such as the prostate and mammary glands”, that exposure early in life "may result in persistent adverse effects in humans" and that the "function of the immune system can be altered following adult exposure to BPA."
However, they did highlight areas of uncertainty and suggestions for future research on uptake of BPA and whether it can accumulate in the body, the effects down generations, among other things. There is also a lack of human data and now studies have to be done to hunt for links between BPA exposure and ill health.
"The fact that very few epidemiological studies have been conducted to address the issue of the potential for BPA to impact human health is a concern, and more research is clearly needed. This also applies to wildlife, both aquatic and terrestrial."
"The latest opinion of the European Food Standards Authority - January 2007 - is that BPA is not an issue at trace levels i.e. that which could potentially be consumed from food and drink intake," commented a spokesman for the Chemical Industries Association in the UK. "We think they are right".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/08/03/sciplastic103.xml