[Graeme]

Use of BPA must be limited, say scientists

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') group of 60 scientists backed by environmental, health and women's organisations from around the world have called for action to reduce exposure to a chemical in plastics found in everyday products.


In a letter to a European food watchdog which is currently reviewing the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), the group says that "many scientific studies are now calling into question the safety of BPA" and that only a minority of controversial academic papers have backed its safety.

BPA is a mass-produced chemical used to make plastic harder. It is found in baby bottles, most food and drink cans – including tins of infant formula milk – plastic food containers, and the casings of mobile phones, and other electronic goods.

New research, such as that conducted by Yale University into breast cancer, indicated that BPA was a real and present danger to health, they said.

They added: "It is therefore our opinion that any objective and comprehensive review of the scientific literature will lead to the conclusion that action is necessary to reduce the levels of BPA exposure, particularly in groups at highest risk, namely young infants and pregnant mothers."

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of bisphenol A — better known as BPA — in baby bottles and sippy cups.

Around the same time, reusable water bottle companies began to proudly tout their "BPA-free" products, spawning a cottage industry for high-end bottles and cups. Bend-based Hydro Flask went from selling its unlined stainless steel bottles out of the back of a truck in 2009 to selling the company for $210 million earlier this year.

On grocery store shelves, glass jars and other BPA-free packaging elbowed their way onto the shelf alongside traditional canned goods.

At the cash register, retailers began to offer BPA-free receipt paper.

In short, consumers are turning away from packaging that contains BPA.

Most of the time.

A glaring exception is the beer aisle. Canned beer has exploded in the past five years, and we're not talking about your grandfather's summer sipper. According to the Brewers Association, the organization that tracks and promotes the craft beer industry, 10 percent of all craft beer is now sold in cans. That number hovered below 2 percent just three years earlier.

It's easy to see why. Cans are lighter to ship, more portable to carry, easy to recycle and relatively cheap, if purchased in bulk. And for beer drinkers of a certain age, the crisp pop of a can offers a warm nostalgia you simply can't find in a bottle. Right now, consumers are crazy for the can.

But cans aren't perfect. Mike Wexler owns Royale Brewing and Portland-based Green Bottling, a mobile bottling service that helps brewers big enough to package their beer, but too small for a bottling line. Wexler points out that for all of cans' ballyhooed sustainable cred, you still get aluminum from huge open-pit mines that scar the landscape and require an enormous amount of electricity to produce. Wexler's company has packaged more than 10 million bottles of beer for breweries across the region in the past five years — so breweries haven't abandoned glass — but he sees consumers showing stronger interest in cans these days.

"You can explain the issues with canning to someone until you're blue in the face, but if they really want a can, you can't change their mind," Wexler says.

Then there's the BPA issue. BPA is still used in a wide range of aluminum packaging to prevent foods and beverages from reacting to the aluminum.

BPA has been linked to a host of health concerns, including reproductive issues, childhood development, even cancer. France has banned the use of BPA in all food packaging. In the United States, it's been banned from all children's drinking bottles and virtually eliminated from the reusable bottle industry. But the FDA says BPA is OK for adults in the relatively small amount found in canned foods, while medical researchers continue to study the issue.

When Southeast Portland-based Baerlic Brewing considered packaging its beer, the BPA issue was a factor in its decision to go with glass. The company bottles several regular and seasonal beers in 22-ounce bottles, and barrel-aged beers in 500-ml bottles.

"BPA was one of the things we considered. I think in a couple of years there will be a BPA-free option, but there isn't with beer cans right now," says Baerlic brewer and owner Ben Parsons. "BPA is really the elephant in the room with cans.The BPA issue has come up with kids, and it's come up with canned food, but most people don't know beer cans have BPA in them."

And even those who are aware of it might not know just how hard it is to completely eliminate BPA. Parsons notes that it's important to store beers upright to avoid having the liquid touch the cap. Why? There's even BPA in bottle caps.

[vox_mundi]

Since the regulation was past, most companies have switched to a BPA-analog which is just as harmful. But it allows them to say 'BPA-Free'. I already have our state representative on it.



What that 'BPA-free' label isn't telling you

BPA substitute could spell trouble: Experiments show bisphenol S also disrupts hormone activity

BPA-free' plastic accelerates embryonic development, disrupts reproductive system

Exposure to BPA substitute causes hyperactivity and brain changes in fish

Common BPA-like chemical, BPS, disrupts heart rhythms in females

BPA and BPS affect embryonic brain development in zebrafish

[DesuMaiden]

I don't find this news report surprising at all, considering that petrochemicals are inheritantly toxic in their chemical makeup. It is just that some petrochemical products are more (or less) toxic than others due to the amount of toxicians released by the product. Unfortunately, petrochemicals are ubiquitous, and many products derived from them have acute and chronic toxic side effects. This explains partially why so many people suffer from cancer and other illnesses/diseases that are related to exposure to carcinogens like petrochemicals.

[vox_mundi]

Plastics compound BPS alters mouse moms' behavior and brain regions

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n the first study of its kind, environmental health scientist Laura Vandenberg and neuroscientist Mary Catanese at the University of Massachusetts Amherst examined the effects of the compound bisphenol S (BPS) on maternal behavior and related brain regions in mice. They found subtle but striking behavior changes in nesting mothers exposed during pregnancy and lactation and in their daughters exposed in utero.

BPS, found in baby bottles, personal care products and thermal receipts, is a replacement chemical for BPA and was introduced when concern was raised about possible health effects of that plastic compound. Though studies have found human BPS exposure is likely low, it is widespread and has increased over the past 10 years, the authors note. As with BPA, there is evidence that BPS is an endocrine disruptor.

Assistant professor Vandenberg and Catanese, a recent graduate of UMass Amherst's neuroscience and behavior graduate program, report, "BPS affects maternal behavior as well as maternally relevant neural correlates." Their results suggest that maternal care of pups, including mothers' ability to adjust to the needs of their young during early development, was impaired after BPS exposure "with differing effects based on dose, postpartum period and generational timing of exposure."

They note effects including "a surprising increased incidence of infanticide" in one treated group and poor maternal care, for example. Details appear in the current issue of Endocrinology. ... more than 10 percent of females exposed to 2 microgram BPS/kg/day either killed their pups or provided such poor instrumental maternal care that one or more pups needed to be euthanized.