Studies Prove BPA Can Cross Placenta To Fetuses

Totes McGotes writes "From canned food to plastic bottles, Bisphenol-A seems to be cropping up everywhere, and now two new studies show that BPA freely crosses the placenta from pregnant mother to fetus. Plus, the research found that chemical transformations occur in the fetus allowing inactive BPA to be converted to the active form."

The question is, how bad is BPA Really?

[Low Ranked Craig]

Apparently we don't really know:

The JAMA study measured urinary levels of BPA in 1455 adults aged 18-74 years, in relation to 8 conditions: arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, respiratory disease (eg asthma, bronchitis, emphysema), stroke, thyroid disease. Higher BPA concentrations were found only in association with heart disease, diabetes and liver damage. This is a preliminary study, and “association” is not proof of causation but it does give grounds for concern. Bottom line: The significance, if any, of high urinary levels of BPA is not yet known, but long-term studies are certainly needed.

http://envirolaw.com/how-dangerous-is-bpa/ [envirolaw.com]

Personally I think it's a bad idea to cook food in plastic containers, or store things in plastic that can act as a solvent. The fact that you can taste the plastic container in the food is something I find disturbing and we primarily use glass and stainless, if only for that issue.

Re:Effect of other additives?

[exhilaration]

So now that companies have stopped using BPA...

I'm pretty sure that canned food companies haven't stopped using it [consumerreports.org].

so?

[Lord Ender]

If something were really, really bad for you, the evidence would be overwhelming. If this is in fact bad, it's bad only to a barely-detectable degree.

Re:The endocrine disruptor scam

[spaanoft]

I read somewhere that BPA does delay the onset of puberty... but only in boys, and that it speeds it up in girls. I was under the impression that this was happening, but then again I'm nowhere near that field of work so I could be completely wrong.

Re:Bisphenol-A

[capnchicken]

I remember awhile back that there was a study that found that only drinking diet pop still affected a person's obesity, even though it did not contain any calories. http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20050613/drink-more-diet-soda-gain-more-weight [webmd.com] .

I'm not saying that there is solid correlation here, I'm fine with the opinion that people who drink diet pop are probably the people making the worst food choices anyway. But what if it's not just the sugar, but the propensity to drink pop from cans with BPA and continue to drink them.

I'd be interested to see European BPA levels contrasted to American BPA levels. What if it's not just caloric intake that is making America so fat, maybe it's our increasing exposure to this, along with calories. There is an obvious increase in childhood obesity and diabetes, what if on top of bad food and poor exercise, it's our increased exposure to this, pre-cradle to grave, that is accelerating our poor health?

Re:Bisphenol-A

[ShadowRangerRIT]

That's entirely possible. Nothing in my statement directly implicates BPA, yet I'm skeptical that we can add chemicals to our diets that simulate our own sex hormones without affecting the processes those hormones regulate. Whether these effects are dangerous isn't something I know, but I would like to see rigorous studies done. Unfortunately, with chemicals like BPA, we seem to prefer introducing them to everyone's diet in an uncontrolled fashion before bothering to check if the chemicals are safe.