BPA Leaches From Polycarbonate Bottles Into Humans

Linus the Turbonerd sends in the bulletin that BPA, a toxic chemical used in the production of polycarbonate, the plastic composing hard, clear water bottles, has been found to leach out of such containers, directly into the water that their users consume. "In addition to polycarbonate bottles, which are refillable and a popular container among students, campers and others and are also used as baby bottles, BPA is also found in dentistry composites and sealants and in the lining of aluminum food and beverage cans. ... 'We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds. If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher. This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential,' said Karin B. Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at HSPH and Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study."

Comments

Re:Old?

[Philip K Dickhead]

This is a new study, just published. It confirms earlier indications that BPA's are far from inert and it adds data to specific scenarios whereby they are transmitted for ingestion.

Many manufacturers have dropped BPA for reasons of public-relations.

Replaced by?

Other unproven, untested and highly suspect additives for 'softening' and 'pliability'.

FUD? Doesn't seem to harm infants...

[Anonymous Coward]

There was an interesting article on NPR recently where they looked at premature infants who were on heart-lung machines whose tubing all used such BPA. These kids had much higher levels than other kids in their systems. 15 years later there were no detectable problem with their reproductive systems. Granted the study size was small, but there is clearly no dramatic effect from significantly larger levels than adults get from using water bottles.

Re:Old?

[Philip K Dickhead]

Corn Syrup.

Michael Pollan has got the number on that. Backed by European studies on endocrine dysfunction and appetite distortion.