By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
October 6, 2009
There's more worrisome news about the potential risks to humans from exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to make such products as plastic water bottles, plastic baby bottles, and the linings in food cans.
A study published today in the online journal http://www.ehponline.org/ Environmental Health Perspectives revealed exposure to BPA in early pregnancy was linked to aggression and hyperactivity in the women's two-year-old girls.
But the study -- "Prenatal Bisphenol A Exposure and Childhood Behavior Environmental Health Perspectives" -- found no significant effects from BPA exposure in the women's sons.
"This is first human study to examine the association of prenatal BPA exposure and childhood behaviors," the study's lead author, Joe Braun, told ConsumerAffairs.com. "And what we found were higher externalizing behaviors in female offspring, but not in males."
"Our findings are consistent with animal studies where we've seen a similar phenomenon with the sex of the offspring, and in some cases, increased aggression in females exposed to BPA," he added. "I think the findings of the study are intriguing, and while we can't draw any hard and fast conclusions from them, they do highlight the need for more research."
"A kindergarten teacher in Missouri, who learned about Braun's study, agrees more research is needed on the possible link between BPA -- and other chemicals in consumer products -- and behavioral issues in children."
"As a teacher, I think there has to be something going on because behavior problems are on the rise," said Lisa B. of Kansas City, Missouri. "We're seeing them more and more in the classroom."
"Out of the 20 kids in my room right now, we have one who is diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and three or four others who exhibit similar characteristics."
Braun, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, worked on the study with the Bruce Landphear at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center collected data and urine samples from the 249 women involved the study.
Scientists followed the women throughout their pregnancy and until their children turned two. They measured the BPA concentration in the women's urine at 16 and 26 weeks and at birth -- and detected the chemical in almost 90 percent of the urine samples taken.
During the 10-year-study, scientists also asked the women to complete an evaluation -- called the Behavioral Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2) -- when their children turned two. That assessment measures externalizing and internalizing behaviors in children. Externalizing behaviors include aggression and hyperactivity, while internalizing behaviors include such issues as nervousness and depression.
Ask why scientists focused on BPA and its effects on pregnant women and their children, Braun said: "BPA is a ubiquitous toxin in the environment. It is everywhere and used in a variety of consumer products. Several studies have shown that BPA appears in the urine, plasma, and other biological tissues in people across the United States. One study found that more than 90 percent of people had detectible levels of BPA in their urine."
"But there are no human studies examining exposure to BPA and the neurodevelopment in children," he added.
Animal studies, however, have revealed that prenatal BPA exposure is linked to impaired learning, aggression, and alterations in addictive behavior in rodents, Braun said.
The National Toxicology Program (NTP), he added, recently reviewed those studies and concluded there was "a moderate level" of concern for the association between prenatal BPA exposure and neuro-developmental outcomes in children. Another panel of experts at Chapel Hill, Braun said, reached the same conclusion.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have also found that BPA leaches from polycarbonate bottles -- those hard, plastic drinking and baby bottles -- and winds up in the urine of people who drink from them. Polycarbonate is a shatter-proof plastic made with BPA.
Their study was the first to show that drinking from polycarbonate bottles increased the levels of urinary BPA.
A 2008 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) also linked higher levels of BPA to cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities.
Other studies have found that a link between low levels of BPA and serious health problems, including prostate and breast cancer, early onset of puberty, obesity, and diabetes.
The Food and Drug Administration, however, says consumer products now on the market that contain BPA are safe. BPA, an industrial chemical used to make polycarbonate plastics and resins, is found in some plastic baby bottles and plastic water bottles, medical tubing, dental fillings, food can and packaging linings, and carbonless paper.
"At this time, FDA is not recommending that anyone discontinue using products that contain BPA while we continue our risk assessment process," said the FDA, which now has a task-force reviewing the current research on BPA. "Based on our ongoing review, we believe there is a large body of evidence that indicates that FDA-regulated products containing BPA currently on the market are safe and that exposure levels to BPA from food contact materials, including (those) for infants and children, are below those that may cause health effects."
The FDA, however, added: "Concerned consumers should know that several alternatives to polycarbonate baby bottles exist, including glass baby bottles...(and) we will continue to consider new research and information as they become available."
Several companies that make plastic baby bottles have already stopped using BPA in their products because of the scientific studies that found a possible link between the chemical and adverse heath effects.
Earlier this year, six companies announced they will no longer use polycarbonate plastic bottles for baby products in the U.S.: Avent America, Inc; Disney First Years; Dr. Brown; Evenflo Co.; Gerber; and Playtex Products, Inc. Wal-Mart has also stopped stop selling baby bottles that containing BPA.
Several states recently enacted legislation to ban or limits the use of BPA in consumer products, Braun said. Canada has also banned the import and use of BPA in baby feeding bottles, sippy cups, and pacifiers. But there are currently no federal regulations regarding the use of BPA in U.S. products.
After finishing this study, is Braun ready to challenge the government's position on BPA? Is he ready to champion an all-out ban of BPA in consumer products sold in the United States?
"I don't know that I'm ready to make that strong of a statement," Braun told us. "What I do think is this (study) calls into question the way we regulate chemicals in the environment. We have a reactionary approach. Companies and industries are allowed to put out chemicals into the environment and into products with little to no testing and then wait for scientists to study them and decide of they are toxic or not."
"It took us decades to decide if we want to ban lead," he added.
Braun and his colleagues, however, are careful to point out that little is still known about the association between BPA exposure and the health outcomes in children.
"More research is needed," Braun said. "We can't draw any hard and fast conclusions. We need to study what sources (of BPA) contribute the most exposure to human and where people are being exposed."
Until those studies are completed, Braun said consumers can reduce their exposure to BPA by avoiding products that contain the chemical and not eating canned food. Some products that contain BPA have the #7 recycling code, Braun said. Pregnant women or women trying to become pregnant, he added, should also avoid products that contain BPA.
Back in Missouri, kindergarten teacher Lisa B. said she'll heed Braun's advice and avoid products that contain BPA. "I'd rather error on the side of caution," she told us. "And it's not that hard to avoid drinking out of plastic water bottles."
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