Sep 14, 2018 03:52 PM
https://gizmodo.com/study-suggests-bpa-f...1829033127
EXCERPT: Plastic products that boast of being “BPA-free” aren’t necessarily any safer for us, suggests a new mouse study published Thursday in Current Biology. The chemicals used to replace BPA in these plastics can still leak out and affect the sperm and eggs of both male and female mice, it found. And these same effects could be happening in people.
Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a chemical commonly used to create polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. These clear white plastics are themselves used in food and drink packaging, as well as consumer products and medical devices, while resins are used to coat metal products like canned foods. When these products degrade or are otherwise damaged (from being repeatedly heated in a microwave, for example), they can leach out BPA, exposing us to it. As a result, it’s estimated that 93 percent of Americans have some level of BPA in their system.
[,,,] In the wake of this bad publicity, companies have started to steer away from using BPA-containing plastics, especially in products geared to the very young, such as baby bottles and the packaging of baby formulas. [...] Incredibly, it seems something similar happened again, if on a smaller scale. [...] “There was definitely this sense of ‘Oh no, not again,’” senior author Patricia Hunt, a researcher [...] “These replacements were behaving pretty much exactly like BPA did,” said Hunt. [...] Though manufacturers have shied away from making explicit claims about BPA replacements being safer, Hunt noted, customers have certainly assumed that they are safer. But while the study is only the latest to suggest that there’s no real difference between these chemicals in their potential harmfulness, proving this effect is real in humans is another problem....
MORE: https://gizmodo.com/study-suggests-bpa-f...1829033127
EXCERPT: Plastic products that boast of being “BPA-free” aren’t necessarily any safer for us, suggests a new mouse study published Thursday in Current Biology. The chemicals used to replace BPA in these plastics can still leak out and affect the sperm and eggs of both male and female mice, it found. And these same effects could be happening in people.
Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a chemical commonly used to create polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. These clear white plastics are themselves used in food and drink packaging, as well as consumer products and medical devices, while resins are used to coat metal products like canned foods. When these products degrade or are otherwise damaged (from being repeatedly heated in a microwave, for example), they can leach out BPA, exposing us to it. As a result, it’s estimated that 93 percent of Americans have some level of BPA in their system.
[,,,] In the wake of this bad publicity, companies have started to steer away from using BPA-containing plastics, especially in products geared to the very young, such as baby bottles and the packaging of baby formulas. [...] Incredibly, it seems something similar happened again, if on a smaller scale. [...] “There was definitely this sense of ‘Oh no, not again,’” senior author Patricia Hunt, a researcher [...] “These replacements were behaving pretty much exactly like BPA did,” said Hunt. [...] Though manufacturers have shied away from making explicit claims about BPA replacements being safer, Hunt noted, customers have certainly assumed that they are safer. But while the study is only the latest to suggest that there’s no real difference between these chemicals in their potential harmfulness, proving this effect is real in humans is another problem....
MORE: https://gizmodo.com/study-suggests-bpa-f...1829033127