Tea Bird

Pittsburgh • environment • health

Bisphenol A (BPA) Is Dangerous After All

By matt carter ⋅ October 29, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

A group of scientists has published a report stating that the FDA was wrong to assert that the common chemical in plastics is harmless. BPA, according to the report,
From can affect brain and behavioral development in infants and kids.

The Food and Drug Administration ignored scientific evidence and used flawed methods when it determined that a chemical widely used in baby bottles and in the lining of cans is not harmful, a scientific advisory panel has found.

In a highly critical report to be released today, the panel of scientists from government and academia said the FDA did not take into consideration scores of studies that have linked bisphenol A (BPA) to prostate cancer, diabetes and other health problems in animals when it completed a draft risk assessment of the chemical last month. The panel said the FDA didn’t use enough infant formula samples and didn’t adequately account for variations among the samples.

Taking those studies into consideration, the panel concluded, the FDA’s margin of safety is “inadequate”. The panel is part of the Science Board, a committee of advisers to the FDA commissioner, and was set up to review the FDA’s risk assessment of BPA.

Many of the studies that the panel said the FDA ignored were reviewed by the National Toxicology Program, which concluded in September that it had “some concern” that BPA can affect brain and behavioral development in infants and small children.

Tags: bpa, fda, toxic