What a surprise!  The chemical industry disagrees with scientists that claim plastic is harming people.
Should we throw out all our Gladware plastic storage containers?  What about water bottles?
--pws

from http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2007/08/13/federal_panel_issues_warning_on_chemical_found_in_plastic?mode=PF

Federal panel issues warning on chemical found in plastic

By Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times  |  August 13, 2007

A federal panel of scientists concluded last week that an estrogen-like compound in plastic could be posing some risk to the brain development of babies and children.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is found in low levels in virtually every human. A component of polycarbonate plastic, it can leach from baby bottles and other hard plastic beverage containers, the linings of food cans, and other consumer products.

Culminating months of scientific debate, the decision by the 12 advisers of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction -- part of the National Institutes of Health -- is the first official, government action related to the chemical. Their recommendation will be reviewed for a federal report that could lead to regulations restricting one of the most used chemicals.

The scientists ranked their concerns about BPA, concluding they had "some concern" about neurological and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children, but "minimal" or "negligible" concern about reproductive effects. The findings put the panel roughly in the middle of the debate between the chemical industry, which has long said there is no evidence of danger to humans, and environmental activists and scientists who say it is probably harming people.

No study has looked for effects in people exposed to the plastic products, which have contained BPA for 50 years.

For fetuses, pregnant women, infants, and children, the panel reported there was "some concern that exposure to bisphenol A causes neural and behavioral effects." In studies of newborn animals, low doses of BPA cause structural changes in the brain that trigger learning deficits and hyperactivity.

For adults, they reported "negligible concern about adverse reproductive effects."

John Bucher, associate director of the National Toxicology Program, which oversees the reproductive health center, said the panel gave the most weight to neurological effects in children, infants, and fetuses because studies consistently have found those effects when newborn animals are exposed to low doses similar to what people encounter. Bucher said that because the science remains uncertain, it is up to individuals to decide whether they want to avoid products containing BPA.

"To me, we're still in that stage of scratching around at the surface of this issue," he said.

Two of the panel's scientists are from private pharmaceutical companies, six from universities, and two from federal agencies. The panel was chaired by Robert Chapin, head of developmental toxicology at Pfizer Inc. 

© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company