Study says BPA does not impact brain development
February 21st 2010 09:29
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From: Plastics.news.com
ARLINGTON, VA. (Feb. 19, 12:15 p.m. ET) -- An industry-funded study has found that there is no evidence of any adverse impact on brain or neurological development in rats whose mothers were exposed to dietary doses of bisphenol A during their pregnancy.
“The extensive evaluations in this study clearly showed that there were no functional, sensory or cognitive deficits resulting from BPA exposure during neurodevelopment, nor was there any evidence of effects on … motor activity” during the development of an organism from the fertilized egg to mature form, said the researchers in a study published online Feb. 17 in Toxicological Sciences, the scientific journal of the Society of Toxicology.
SOT is a professional organization of scientists from academic institutions, government, and industry who practice toxicology.
The research was funded by the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Va., and conducted by WIL Research Laboratories LLC in Ashland, Ohio. WIL is a contract research organization that conducts research for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, agricultural, veterinary, and food and consumer products industries.
In the study, pregnant rodents were given both low and high doses of BPA in their milk and food based on guidelines for the study of developmental neurotoxicity from both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
A previous low-dose study by EPA had also found that low doses of BPA did not affect brain reproduction or development.
However, a number of other laboratory studies have previously linked BPA — which is used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins — to birth defects, low birth weight, cancer, early puberty and other health problems in rats. Still, nearly a dozen safety agencies around the world have said BPA is safe for food-contact uses.
In mid-January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reversed its long-held stance that BPA is safe for food contact applications. Regulators said they were particularly concerned about BPA’s effect on the development of fetuses, infants and young children. But FDA did not ban BPA or require manufacturers to label products that contain BPA, saying that there is not enough information to require that.
Minnesota, Connecticut, the city of Chicago and Suffolk County in New York enacted bans on BPA baby bottles for young children last year. The Suffolk County ban went into effect last July and the Minnesota and Chicago bans went into effect in January. The Connecticut ban will go into effect Oct. 1, 2011. Connecticut’s ban also applies to infant formula cans and reusable food/beverage containers.
In addition, both legislative chambers in Wisconsin and Washington have passed bans on food and drink containers that contain BPA and are intended for use by children 3 and younger, setting the stage for them to become the third and fourth states to ban baby bottles that contain BPA.
At least nine other states are considering BPA bans.
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