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- Oct 9, 2005
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/40591
Drinking water from plastic bottles made with the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) increases urinary levels of the chemical by nearly 70 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from Harvard University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BPA, an industrial chemical that makes plastics hard and transparent, is widely used in plastic drinking bottles, infant bottles and other consumer products, and also in resins that line cans of food and infant formula. The chemical has been shown to disrupt the hormonal system, potentially leading to reproductive defects as well as brain damage, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes.
"These astonishing results should be a clarion call to lawmakers and public health officials that babies are being exposed to BPA, and at levels that could likely have an impact on their development," said Renee Sharp, of the Environmental Working Group. "The adults in this study were willing participants who understood the risk of exposure, but babies are unwitting victims of the silent but serious threat this hormone-disrupting chemical poses to their health."
The study, conducted on 77 student volunteers, was published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
BPA IS AT UNSAFE LEVELS IN ONE OF EVERY 10 SERVINGS OF CANNED FOODS (11%) AND ONE OF EVERY 3 CANS OF INFANT FORMULA (33%)
More on BPA exposure and its impacts on human health at the Environmental Working Group website:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola
