PLastic Story

The chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), widely used in plastic food and beverage containers, has been linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and liver abnormalities, according to a study released Tuesday. The report to be published in the September 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that adults with the highest concentrations of BPA in their urine had nearly triple the odds of cardiovascular disease, compared with subjects found to have the least amounts of the compound in their systems.
 Of 1,455 adults studied, those with the highest BPA levels had more than double the odds of having diabetes, the report found. "Higher urinary concentrations of BPA were associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities," the authors wrote. The release of the report coincides with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hearing in Washington Tuesday on the safety of Bisphenol A. The authors said the study is the first to track the prevalence in the human body of BPA, which authorities in Canada have outlawed as a health risk and major environmental contaminant. The compound is found in detectable levels in more than 90 percent of Americans, "primarily through food, but also through drinking water, dental sealants, dermal exposure, and inhalation of household dusts," researchers said. More than two million metric tonnes of BPA were produced worldwide in 2003, and demand for the compound has increased by between six and ten percent each year since then, the authors said. "Given the substantial negative effects on adult health that may be associated with increased BPA concentrations and also given the potential for reducing human exposure, our findings deserve scientific follow-up," they wrote.