US federal health panel says BPA may be harmful

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For first time, federal health panel says BPA may be harmful

Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

(04-16) 04:00 PDT Washington - -- A federal health panel Tuesday for

the first time acknowledged concerns that a chemical found in

thousands of everyday products like baby bottles and compact discs may

cause cancer and other serious disorders.

The draft report by the National Toxicology Program, an office of the

National Institutes of Health, signaled a turning point in the

government's position on bisphenol-a, or BPA, so ubiquitous in

American society that it was detected in the urine of 93 percent of

the population over 6 years of age.

Last year, another expert panel using outside scientists minimized the

health risks of BPA, but its findings were widely assailed after a

congressional investigation found that a firm hired to perform

scientific analysis was also working for the chemical industry.

Used in plastic production since the 1950s, BPA in laboratory animals

may be linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, early puberty in

females and behavioral changes, according to the study released

Tuesday. It called for more research into the chemical's health effects.

Although the National Toxicology Program has no power to regulate BPA,

its findings are used by other federal agencies such as the Food and

Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, which set

safe exposure limits to chemicals.

" What we've got is a warning, a signal, of some concerns, " said Mike

Shelby, director of the Center for Evaluation for Risks to Human

Reproduction, who oversaw the report. " We could not dismiss the

possibility that similar or related effects might occur in humans. "

Public health advocates said the report should spur the government to

ban BPA, at least in baby products. Formula-fed infants are most

vulnerable to the chemical, because it is found in baby bottles as

well as the linings of canned powdered and liquid formula. " They get a

double exposure, " said Anila , a senior scientist at the

nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

But Hentges, executive director of the polycarbonate/BPA global

group at the American Chemistry Council, said the new report does not

mean BPA is unsafe.

" It found no serious or high-level concerns for human health, " he

said. " More research is always considered valuable. "

The toxicology panel used a five-level rating system, ranging from

serious concern to negligible concern. It labeled the possible cancer

risk of BPA as " some concern, " in the middle of the scale. There was

not enough scientific evidence to rank it as a " concern " or " serious

concern, " Shelby said.

Asked in an interview whether exposure to BPA can be eliminated,

Shelby paused. " It's everywhere, " he said. " It's not clear that we

know all the sources of BPA exposure. The vast majority of exposure is

through food and drink - cans and bottles. But there could be trace

amounts in water, dust. Your cell phone is probably made out of it. "

Because BPA is most readily absorbed through food and drink

containers, health advocates have been particularly focused on how the

Food and Drug Administration is regulating the chemical.

An FDA spokesman declined to comment on the new report, saying the

agency had not had a chance to review it.

The FDA has been under fire from the House Energy and Commerce

Committee, which has been investigating the influence of the chemical

industry on the FDA's regulation of BPA in plastic liners inside metal

cans of baby formula.

Last month, in response to questions from lawmakers, the FDA said it

disregarded hundreds of government and academic studies about the

cancer risks of BPA and used just two studies funded by the chemical

industry to determine that the chemical is safe.

Tuesday's report should spur the FDA to reconsider its decisions

regarding BPA, said Reps. Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the

Energy and Commerce Committee, and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of

the panel's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

" These assessments fly in the face of the FDA's determination that BPA

is safe, " Dingell said through a spokesman. " I hope the FDA is willing

to reconsider their position on BPA for the safety of our infants and

children. "

This article appeared on page A - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/16/MN091065N6.DTL & hw=bp\

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