The Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has reportedly indicated its support of a state ban on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) for infant formula packaging, but stopped short of suggesting that the chemical be prohibited from baby and toddler food containers, which environmental activists have been requesting. Maine already bans the chemical from baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food and beverage containers, but, according to news sources, DEP officials claim that the scientific evidence is limited on whether the most common baby food containers—glass jars with metal lids that contain BPA—cause children to be exposed to the chemical. Agency officials are also apparently concerned about whether rules implementing the chemical ban would be sufficiently clear for consumers and companies to follow. News sources state that DEP is expected to make a recommendation on extending the BPA ban by the end of January 2013, and that an expanded ban…
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A recent research article focusing on bisphenol A (BPA) has questioned the use of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) datasets “to draw causal inferences regarding environmental chemical exposures and adverse health outcomes.” Judy LaKind, et al., “Use of NHANES Data to Link Chemical Exposures to Chronic Disease: A Cautionary Tale,” PLoS One, December 2012. Using “consistent a priori selected methods,” researchers analyzed four NHANES datasets to determine whether (i) there was “a consistent association between urinary [BPA] measures and diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), and/or heart attacks across surveys”; and (ii) NHANES was “an appropriate dataset for investigating associations between chemicals with short physiologic half-lives such as BPA and chronic disease with multifactorial etiologies.” The results evidently revealed no significant associations “between urinary BPA and heart disease or diabetes” for any of the NHANES surveys. Based on these findings, the study’s authors opted not to draw “any conclusions…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently held a one-day meeting with scientific experts, member states and other Advisory Forum participants “to exchange each other’s previous or ongoing work related to the safety assessment of bisphenol A (BPA).” Part of the agency’s continuing BPA evaluation, the meeting covered previous risk appraisals and outlined EFSA’s “developing approach” to the next opinion scheduled for completion in May 2013. It also featured members of other EFSA committees who discussed BPA safety assessments undertaken for medical devices and industrial chemicals, as well as experts from individual countries who described their work in the following areas: (i) “human exposure to BPA”; (ii) “current levels of BPA in food and other sources”; (iii) “analytical methods”; (iv) “non dietary sources of exposure to BPA”; and (v) “recent studies on the toxicity of BPA, including those related to reported low dose effects of BPA.” According to EFSA, the…
A recent study has allegedly linked low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) to reproductive abnormalities in rhesus monkeys. Patricia A. Hunt, et al., “Bisphenol A alters early oogenesis and follicle formation in the fetal ovary of the rhesus monkey,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2012. Seeking to determine whether BPA exposure “could influence [] reproductive longevity and success,” researchers from University of California, Davis, and Washington State University (WSU) sought to approximate human exposure levels by administering BPA to gestating rhesus monkeys via one daily oral dose or a continuous subdermal implant. Their results evidently showed that the egg cell failed to divide properly in both groups of monkeys exposed to BPA, with those in the continuous-dosing group exhibiting further complications in the third trimester as fetal eggs “were not packaged appropriately in follicles, structures in which they develop,” according to a September 24, 2012, WSU press release.…
Health Canada has released an updated assessment of bisphenol A (BPA), concluding that dietary exposure through food sources “is not expected to pose a health risk.” The September 2012 assessment takes into account surveys performed after the agency issued its first conclusions in 2008, when it found “Probable Daily Intakes (PDI) for BPA of 0.18 µg/kg bw/day for the general population and 1.35 µg/kg bw/day for infants.” These surveys sought to measure concentrations of BPA in canned drink products, bottled water products, canned food products, and soft drink and beer products, as well as in total diet samples. Based on Health Canada’s probabilistic exposure assessment, the new survey results have revised the 2008 PDIs downward for both the general populations and infants. In particular, the agency reported a mean exposure to BPA of 0.055 µg/kg bw/day for the general population, “which is approximately 3 times lower than the intake calculated using…
A recent study has purportedly identified an association between urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentration and obesity in children and adolescents. Leonardo Trasande, et al., “Association Between Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration and Obesity Prevalence in Children and Adolescents,” Journal of the American Medical Association, September 2012. Relying on data from 2,838 participants ages 6-19 years who were enrolled in the 2003-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, researchers evidently found that urinary BPA concentration “was significantly associated with obesity.” In particular, the study reported that urinary BPA values in the second, third and fourth quartiles showed “a substantial elevation in the odds of obesity” when compared with first-quartile values, with “an adjusted prevalence of obesity of 22.3%... among children in the highest quartile, compared with a 10.3% prevalence…among those in the lowest quartile.” “To our knowledge, this is the first report of an association of an environmental chemical exposure with childhood obesity in…
A new study in which Wistar rats were exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) through drinking water from gestation through puberty purportedly shows that “behavioral impacts of BPA can manifest during adolescence, but wane in adulthood, and may be mitigated by diet.” Heather Patisaul, et al., “Anxiogenic Effects of Developmental Bisphenol A Exposure Are Associated with Gene Expression Changes in the Juvenile Rat Amygdala and Mitigated by Soy”, PLoS One, September 5, 2012. The rats were reared on a soy-based or soy-free diet, and the changes observed were associated only among those on the soy-free diet. The animals, which were found on assessment to have internal BPA doses “within a human-relevant range,” were assessed for anxiety-like and exploratory behavior after weaning but before puberty. According to the authors, “BPA induced anxiogenic behavior in juveniles and loss of sexual dimorphisms in adult exploratory behavior” in the soy-free animals.
U.K. researchers have allegedly identified raised urinary bisphenol A (uBPA) concentrations in 591 study participants “with intermediate or severe stenoses compared to those graded as having no coronary artery disease [CAD],” suggesting that “associations between uBPA and CAD may be specific to coronary artery stenosis.” David Melzer, et al., “Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration and Angiography-Defined Coronary Artery Stenosis,” PLoS One, August 2012. According to the authors, their results apparently supported the associations between uBPA and CAD reported in three previous studies but “effectively ruled out reverse causation, strengthening the evidence for causal inference.” “The mechanism by which BPA ingestion and metabolism influences vascular function and risk of cardiovascular disease has not been elaborated… We recently suggested plausible mechanisms by which BPA might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, including reduced nitric oxide bioavailability, altered vascular reactivity to endothelin-1, oxidative stress and inflammation,” concluded the researchers, who recommended further work to…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule amending the food additive regulations at 21 CFR part 177 “to no longer provide for the use of polycarbonate (PC) resins,” including bisphenol A (BPA), in infant feeding bottles or spill-proof sippy cups. Effective July 17, 2012, the final rule apparently responds to a petition filed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which claimed that “that baby bottles and sippy cups manufactured from PC resins are no longer being introduced into the U.S. market and that manufacturers of baby bottles and sippy cups have abandoned the use of PC resins in making these products.” After reviewing the submitted data and seven public comments addressing the petition, FDA concluded that the use of PC resins in these products has been “completely and permanently abandoned,” and agreed to amend the regulations accordingly. The agency has requested objections to the final rule…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that two species of shiner fish exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) were more likely to mate in mixed-species pairings. Jessica Ward and Michael Blum, “Exposure to an environmental estrogen breaks down sexual isolation between native and invasive species,” Evolutionary Applications, July 2012. After collecting specimens from rivers throughout Georgia, scientists evidently used a controlled environment to study the effects of short term BPA exposure on both the red shiner fish (Cyprinella lutrensis), an invasive species, and the native blacktail shiner fish (Cyprinella venustra). Their results allegedly showed that males exposed to BPA lost some of their distinctive coloring, leading females to more frequently choose mates not of their own species. “Until now studies have primarily focused on the impact to individual fish, but our study demonstrates the impact of BPA on a population level,” explained one of the study’s authors in a July 11,…
