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In February 2007, the public advocacy group Environment California Research & Policy Center published a report titled Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals in Clear Plastic Baby Bottles. The report describes the harmful effects of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a developmental, reproductive, and neural toxicant found in polycarbonate plastic—the material used to make the vast majority of baby bottles.
Soon after this report was released, a billion dollar class-action lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles against five major baby bottle manufacturers over the dangers of BPA. The lawsuit alleges that potentially harmful levels of BPA can leach from polycarbonate baby bottles, when they are heated, and migrate into the contained liquid. The California legislature has also debated the safety of BPA, and next year supervisors in San Francisco will consider a citywide ban on BPA.
Chemical companies and baby bottle manufacturers claim human exposure to low doses of BPA is harmless. Yet there is growing scientific evidence to the contrary. In August 2007, an expert government panel found there is concern that bisphenol A causes neural and behavior problems among children who have been exposed to the chemical before or after birth.
Many consumers are unaware of this controversy and continue to purchase polycarbonate baby bottles, having never heard of BPA or the dangers it may pose for their families.
BPA is also widespread in bodies of water such as rivers and estuaries, and in landfills, where it leaches into the surrounding ecosystems.
The resources below are intended to provide you with greater detail about the bisphenol a controversy.
From: Plastics May Not Be So Fantastic for Kids. Los Angeles Times, Sept. 2007.
“Newborns and developing fetuses are, in general, highly vulnerable to toxic exposures. Pound for pound, kids breathe more air, consume more food and drink more water than adults; they also tend to put just about anything—edible or not—into their mouths, which translates into much bigger doses of environmental chemicals than adults take in.”
“[BPA] was originally thought to be a fairly weak estrogen-mimicker. But more recently, studies have shown that even at extremely low doses, it can exert an estrogenic effect on cells. In the more than 150 studies on the effects of very low doses of bisphenol A in animals, the chemical has been linked to prostrate and mammary gland cancers, early onset puberty and reproductive-organ defects.”
From: Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals In Clear Plastic Baby Bottles. Environment California Research & Policy Center, 2007.
“The presence of bisphenol A at any level in baby bottles is cause for concern, as there is no safe level” (p. 19).
“Polycarbonate baby bottles leach bisphenol A” (p.19)
“Bisphenol A is a developmental, neural, and reproductive toxicant” (p. 4).
“Children’s exposure [to toxic chemicals] begins at conception, as chemicals, including bisphenol A, cross the placenta in a pregnant women’s body, potentially affecting the embryo or fetus during critical periods of development” (p. 8).
“Scientists have linked very low doses of bisphenol A exposure to cancers, impaired immune function, early onset puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyperactivity, among other problems” (p. 4).
“Growing children are particularly at risk to toxic chemicals in their environment because they are physiologically more susceptible to them” (p. 8).
“Many people think, incorrectly, that the government would prohibit chemicals from entering the market if they were not safe. In truth, the regulatory process has failed to work the way the public believes it should” (p. 22).
“Only a very small percent of [the 80,000 chemicals registered for commercial use in the U.S.] have been tested for safety to human health” (p. 22).
“Consumers have a right to know whether the products they use every day contain chemicals that are known or have the potential to cause harm to them or their families” (p. 24).
“Global bisphenol A production exceeds 6.4 billion pounds per year.”
Berkson, D. Lindsey. Hormone Deception: How Everyday Foods and Products Are Disrupting Your Hormones--and How to Protect Yourself and Your Family. McGraw-Hill: 2001.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company: 1962.
Colborn, T, Dumanoski D, and Myers JP. Our Stolen Future. Penguin Books: 1996.
Available: http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/.
Goldman, Lynn and Sheldon Krimsky. Hormonal Chaos: The Scientific and Social Origins of the Environmental Endocrine Hypothesis. The Johns Hopkins University Press: 2002.
Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. Vintage: 1998.
bisphenol A, BPA, cancer, developmental toxin, diabetes, early onset puberty, endocrine disruptors, environmental chemicals, estrogen-mimickers, estrogenic effect, hormone disrupting chemicals, hyperactivity, impaired immune function, leach, neural toxin, obesity, toxic baby bottles, toxic plastics, polycarbonate plastic, reproductive toxin
Bisphenol A Free Portal
http://www.bisphenolafree.org/
Children’s Health Environmental Coalition
Chemical Profile: Bisphenol-A (BPA)
http://www.checnet.org
e.hormone
Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities
http://e.hormone.tulane.edu/eh.html
Endocrine Disruptors Group
University of Missouri-Columbia
http://endocrinedisruptors.missouri.edu/index.html
Endocrine/Estrogen Letter: An “Online Enterprises” Newsletter
Controversial Issues
http://www.eeletter.com/cntrvrsl/index.html
Frederick vom Saal, Professor, Rutgers University
Member of the Endocrine Disruptors Group
University of Missouri-Columbia
http://endocrinedisruptors.missouri.edu/vomsaal/vomsaal.html
Human Toxome Project
Environmental Working Group
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/
Healthy Child, Healthy World
http://www.healthychild.org/
Our Stolen Future
http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/
Pure and Applied Chemistry
Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment and International Union of Pure and Appliced Chemistry
http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2003/7511/index.html
Bisphenol A Articles Authored/Co-Authored By Frederick vom Saal
http://endocrinedisruptors.missouri.edu/pdfarticles/pdflist.html
The Pollution in Newborns: A Benchmark Investigation of Industrial Chemicals, Pollutants, and Pesticides in Umbilical Cord Blood
BodyBurden
http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/execsumm.php
Clearly Concerning: Do Common Plastics and Resins Carry Risks?
Science News Online. September 29, 2007.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070929/bob9.asp
The Problem With Plastic: The Chemical BPA is Especially Bad for Babies
U.S. News & World Report. September 22, 2007.
http://health.usnews.com
Two Words: Bad Plastic. Bisphenol A Suspected of Reproductive Health Harm (Environmental Health News). August 2, 2007.
http://www.childproofing.org
Endocrine Disruption Occurring at Doses Lower Than Those Predicted By Classical Chemical Toxicity Evaluations: The Case of Bisphenol A.
Pure and Applied Chemistry, Vol. 75, Nos. 11 – 12, pp. 2167-2179, 2003.
http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/2003/pdf/7511x2167.pdf
Global Assessment of the State-of-the-Science of Endocrine Disruptors.
The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), 2007.
http://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/new_issues/endocrine_disruptors/en/
New Modes of Action for Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
Molecular Endocrinology, 2004.
http://mend.endojournals.org
Plastic May Not Be So Fantastic for Kids. Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2007.
http://www.latimes.com/
State Senate Passes Measure to Curb, Ban Toxic Materials in Tots' Toys. San Francisco Chronicle, September 5, 2007.
http://www.sfgate.com/
Are Plastics Safe?
Environmental Working Group
http://www.ewg.org/node/22566
Chemical Body Burden
Bill Moyers Report: Trade Secrets
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/problem/bodyburden.html
Integration of Mechanisms, Effects in Animals and Potential to Impact Human Health at Current Levels of Exposure, 2007.
Chapel Hill Bisphenol A Expert Panel Consensus Statement:
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org
Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals In Clear Plastic Baby Bottles. Environment California Research & Policy Center, 2007.
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org
Toxic Plastics Formula in Infant Formula
Environmental Working Group
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bpaformula
Environmental Working Group Letter to Infant Formula Manufacturers
http://www.ewg.org/node/22338
A Survey of Bisphenol A in U.S. Canned Foods. Environmental Working Group, 2007.
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola |
