MIZZOU NEWS

Uncovering a Hidden Danger

By Matt McGowan

By nature, Fred vom Saal is not a crusader, but he doesn’t want to wait 10 years for a governmental agency to ban a chemical that his research shows harms animals. He doesn’t want to wait for thousands of people to show severe abnormalities from years of eating foods packaged in plastic.

Since their landmark findings in 1997 on low-dosage effects of Bisphenol A (BPA) on mice, vom Saal and Wade Welshons, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, have labored to warn the public and government agencies of the dangers associated with the prevalent chemical that is used in many plastic products, including baby bottles, food-storage containers and toys.

In May vom Saal presented new scientific evidence about this chemical at the Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference, an annual conference sponsored by several governmental agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to examine the possible dangers of toxic chemicals.

During the conference near Dayton, Ohio, vom Saal argued that scientific findings in more than 35 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals provide credible evidence that the chemical is harmful to every type of animal that has been studied, and this chemical is thus very likely to produce the same types of abnormalities in humans. These findings are based on independent academic research that has studied the effects of BPA.

“This evidence will ultimately convince federal regulatory agencies that BPA should be illegal for use in food and beverage containers,” vom Saal said. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Bisphenol A is an artificial estrogen, but it is bonded together in a chain of bisphenol A molecules to create the plastic called polycarbonate as well as resins that are used to line cans and as dental sealants. Each day, consumers use several plastic products that contain BPA, a chemical found in the 1930s by a Nobel-prize winning scientist to act like estrogen. In the 1950s, chemists linked BPA together to create polycarbonate material, and companies began using the chemical in plastics production. Today, BPA, one of the top 50 chemicals in production in the United States, generates billions of dollars for the plastics industry, which produces about 2.5 billion pounds of the chemical per year.

Vom Saal said scientists have known for many years that the polycarbonate bond created by BPA was unstable and that the chemical would eventually leach into food or beverages in contact with the plastic. The obvious concern today is that it may leach into food products, ranging from microwavable dinners to baby formula, that are packaged in polycarbonate plastic.

“The idea that this is a strong, durable product is an illusion,” vom Saal said. “The chemists have known that the Bisphenol A chemical is constantly leaching and coming into contact with food or water. It’s going to damage your body.”

Researchers also have known that supplemental estrogens are harmful to animals and people, especially during fetal development. Vom Saal, Welshons and other scientists were particularly interested in BPA because they knew blood proteins involved in protecting against effects of natural estrogens would not protect against the chemical. Thus, this artificial hormone could travel directly through the blood into cells and damage them.

In 1997, the MU researchers published the first scientific article detailing the effects in animals of very low environmental exposure to BPA. Vom Saal and Welshons performed a prostate and sperm count study on male mice and demonstrated that BPA caused prostate hyperplasia — excessive growth of prostate tissue, a pre-condition of cancer. Since then, other studies, both theirs and those from other academic laboratories have shown that low-level exposure to BPA caused decreased sperm production in males, accelerated rate of growth, sex reversal in frogs, early onset of puberty, chromosome damage in female ovaries and a variety of behavioral changes.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Vom Saal and Welshons have shifted their research efforts toward an explanation of how and why BPA has such a powerful effect on an animal’s endocrine system and reproductive organs. They have begun the process of identifying the molecular mechanisms at work when the hormone enters an animal’s cells.

“There are safe alternatives,” vom Saal said of products made with BPA. “There are plastic products that do not have Bisphenol A or other toxic chemicals. They can be made safely and used safely. There is no reason to keep using a chemical that has such a high potential to cause harm.”

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Last Update: November 15, 2007