Welcome to plastics.com

« Plastics Recycling | Main | PMN GUIDANCE »

February 20, 2005

Bishenol A

BISPHENOL A SAFETY CHALLENGED: There is consensus among the scientific research community that bisphenol A (BPA), the raw material for polycarbonate (PC), may be an endocrine-disrupting chemical that could be particularly damaging to human embryos and young children, says Frederick S. vom Saal, professor of biology at the University ofVomsaal  Missouri (Colombia, MO). The number of research papers published by scientists in journals such as Nature indicating a link between low-dose exposure to BPA and defects in prenatal and young babies has increased from "a handful a few years ago, to more than 90 today," vom Saal says. Vom Saal made his comments last week in London, where he met with opinion-makers to express his concerns about potential health problems associated with BPA at legally permitted exposure levels. The chemical industry says BPA is safe and that BPA levels in PC products such as bottles for feeding babies and food packaging, are not hazardous to humans. "BPA has been safely used for over 40 years and is one of the most extensively studied substances," the American Plastics Council says. See also http://endocrinedisruptors.missouri.edu/vomsaal/vomsaal.html. Chemical Week, 02/02/05, p. 7; Chemistry & Industry (London), 7 February 2005, p. 7.

For another view on BPA, please click on to www.bisphenol-a.org

(click here to sign up for a free two week trial of the FULL Regulatory Update newsletter)

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83420387053ef00d83437368453ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Bishenol A:

Comments

Contrary to the claims of Dr. vom Saal, there is much more of a consensus that exposure to low, environmentally relevant doses of bisphenol A does not present a risk to human health. A good recent example is the weight-of-evidence evaluation of low-dose effects of bisphenol A conducted by an expert scientific panel organized by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. That panel "found no consistent affirmative evidence of low-dose BPA effects for any endpoint," and "the evidence considered by the panel suggests that the weight of the evidence for low-dose effects is very weak."

Summaries of the evaluation can be found at http://www.hcra.harvard.edu/pdf/August2004.pdf and http://www.bisphenol-a.org/whatsNew/20040903Harvard.html, and the full peer-reviewed publication can be found at the second of these links.

In addition, every government body in the world that has evaluated the scientific evidence has not accepted the validity of claimed low-dose effects from bisphenol A.

The comments to this entry are closed.

 




Partnerships :: click for details

    Discussion Forums Index
    Click to see ALL the forums