Archive for the ‘BPA’ Category

Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

newyorktimes.com

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: November 7, 2009

Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It’s a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies — to the tune of six pounds per American per year. That’s a lot of estrogen.

More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it — though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike.

Now it turns out it’s in our food.

Consumer Reports magazine tested an array of brand-name canned foods for a report in its December issue and found BPA in almost all of them. The magazine says that relatively high levels turned up, for example, in Progresso vegetable soup, Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup, and Del Monte Blue Lake cut green beans.

The magazine also says it found BPA in the canned liquid version of Similac Advance infant formula (but not in the powdered version) and in canned Nestlé Juicy Juice (but not in the juice boxes). The BPA in the food probably came from an interior coating used in many cans.

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Phthalate warning: Medications contain chemicals that “feminize” unborn baby boys

Monday, November 30th, 2009

naturalnews.com
November 2009

In a bombshell finding that has far-reaching implications for society and culture, scientists at the University of Rochester have found that phthalates — the chemical found in many vinyl and plastic products — tends to “feminize” boys, altering their brains to express more feminine characteristics. The study has been published in the Journal of Andrology.

Phthalates are found in vinyl products (including vinyl flooring), PVC shower curtains, plastic furniture and even in the plastic coating of the insides of dishwashing machines.

The feminization process happens during pregnancy when phthalate exposure causes hormone disruptions in the unborn baby. This chemical feminizes males by disrupting the action of the hormone testosterone.

In this recent study, researchers found a strong correlation between the types of toys that male children play with and the level of phthalates found in their mothers when they were pregnant. Researchers discovered that boys exposed to high levels of phthalates in the womb tend to avoid playing with cars, trains or toy guns. They also avoided rough play, instead preferring more feminine toys and activities. (Barbie?)

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San Francisco to ban children’s toys made with toxic chemicals; bisphenol A and phthalates targeted

Monday, November 30th, 2009

naturalnews.com
November 2009

Beginning Dec. 1, the city of San Francisco will begin enforcing a ban on the sale, distribution and manufacture of baby products that contain any level of the toxic chemical bisphenol A or certain levels of phthalates.

Both chemicals — which are used to harden or soften plastic products — can leach out of the plastic in baby toys and products every time an infant puts it in its mouth, causing possibly severe health problems.

San Francisco’s law is modeled after a ban that went into effect in the European Union earlier this year, after rising concerns over the health consequences of the buildup of industrial chemicals in the human body came to light. For instance, a recent study by Harvard researchers appearing in The Lancet found that hundreds and possibly thousands of common chemicals are causing widespread brain disorders in children.

Many San Francisco companies that manufacture and sell baby products — such as teething rings, dolls and waterproof books — say they will comply with the ban, but find it unnecessary, claiming their products only contain “safe” levels of the hazardous chemicals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its decades-old guidelines on “safe” human exposure to the chemicals fail to take into account hundreds of recent studies that link the chemicals with serious health disorders.

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Hormone experts worried about plastics, chemicals

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
Baby bottles free of the chemical bisphenol A are seen during a news conference with Canadas Health Minister Tony Clement in Ottawa April 18, 2008.  REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Baby bottles free of the chemical bisphenol A are seen during a news conference with Canada's Health Minister Tony Clement in Ottawa April 18, 2008. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Hormone experts said on Wednesday they are becoming worried by a chemical called bisphenol A, which some politicians say they want taken out of products and which consumers are increasingly shunning.

They said they have gathered a growing body evidence to show the compound, also known as BPA, might damage human health. The Endocrine Society issued a scientific statement on Wednesday calling for better studies into its effects.

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Drugs found in drinking water

Friday, September 12th, 2008
At the Orange County Sanitation District, a settling basin is used to filter water as part of the advanced secondary treatment, before the water is diverted into the ocean, in Fountain Valley, Calif. Pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. (Ric Francis, AP)

At the Orange County Sanitation District, a settling basin is used to filter water as part of the advanced secondary treatment, before the water is diverted into the ocean, in Fountain Valley, Calif. Pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. (Ric Francis, AP)

Associated Press

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

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