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    • Sobering News about BPA Exposure and Fertility

      by
      Erika Tabke
      Published on Mar-08-2010 06:42 PM    
      0 Comments Comments
      Sobering News about BPA Exposure

      A new study has brought BPA into the spotlight again; this time the focus is on future fertility issues in children who were exposed to BPA in utero. Researchers at Yale School of Medicine found that mouse fetuses exposed to BPA have abnormal changes to their reproductive systems -- specifically to the uterus. Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale and his team found that the DNA of the offsprings' uteruses had been permanently changed.

      Taylor said that exposure to BPA as a fetus is carried throughout adulthood. “What our mothers were exposed to in pregnancy may influence the rest of our lives. We need to better identify the effect of environmental contaminants on not just crude measures such as birth defects, but also their effect in causing more subtle developmental errors.”

      What is BPA?

      According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), BPA is found in food and drink packaging (such as water bottles, infant bottles, compact discs, safety equipment, and medical devices, and in the coating on some metal products such as food cans, bottle tops and water pipes). Exposure to BPA is mostly through diet. Air, dust and water are other possible sources of exposure, but the NIH stresses that BPA in food and beverages is the primary source of exposure.

      What is the risk?

      The most recent government review by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) offered a set of conclusions regarding BPA, about which NIH publicly agreed. Two of the summary statements read:
      • The NTP has some concern for effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures to bisphenol A.
      • The NTP has negligible concern that exposure of pregnant women to bisphenol A will result in fetal or neonatal mortality, birth defects, or reduced birth weight and growth in their offspring.
      Yet 93% of Americans have detectable levels of BPA in their urine - which is way too high, given what we know (and don't know) about BPA and exposure. NIH is aware of this, and has funded $14 million in grants to study BPA exposure further.

      In animal studies, there is some evidence linking BPA exposure with infertility, weight gain, behavioral changes, early onset puberty, prostate and mammary gland cancer and diabetes. For the newly funded research, two-year animal and human studies will focus on either developmental exposure or adult chronic exposures to low doses of BPA. Researchers will be looking at a number of health effects including behavior, obesity, diabetes, reproductive disorders, development of prostate, breast and uterine cancer, asthma, cardiovascular diseases and transgenerational or epigenetic effects. The 10 Recovery Act NIH Grand Opportunities grants focusing on BPA research have been awarded to:
      • Scott M. Belcher, University of Cincinnati
      • Kim Harley and Brenda Eskenazi, University of California, Berkeley
      • B. Paige Lawrence, University of Rochester, N.Y.
      • Gail S. Prins, University of Illinois at Chicago; Shuk-Mei Ho, University of Cincinnati; and Kevin P. White, University of Chicago.
      • Beverly Sharon Rubin and Andrew S. Greenberg, Tufts University, Boston
      • Ana Soto, Tufts University, Boston
      • Shanna H. Swan and Bernard Weiss, University of Rochester
      • Frederick vom Saal, University of Missouri, Columbia and William Allen Ricke, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester.
      • Cheryl L. Walker, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; Shuk-Mei Ho, University of Cincinnati; and Michael A. Mancini, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
      • Robin Marjorie Whyatt, Columbia University Health Sciences, New York City
      Source: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

      (As an aside: you can thank President Obama's economic stimulus package for the funding for this research. Thirty million dollars in timulus money was given to the NIH, and half of it is funding this research on BPA.)

      In the meantime, consumers need to look at their food and beverage packaging and ask questions about what products they are using. Avoiding products that contain BPA seems prudent. The risks are present. The planned NIESH research will attempt to quantify it.

      Notes:
      Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Vol. 24, Issue 3 (March 2010)