From obesity to autism, the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy and childhood are well known. However, new research shows that BPA exposure during pregnancy at levels once considered safe could disrupt circadian rhythms as well as lead to hyperactivity later in life.
Two chemicals used as substitutes for bisphenol A (BPA) may contribute to childhood weight gain and obesity, according to a study published today in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.
A trade group for the plastics industry failed to persuade the European General Court on Thursday that the industrial chemical BPA should not be classified as toxic.
Though its health effects are still debated, the EPA says it is concerned about bisphenol (such as BPA) because 'it is a reproductive, developmental and systemic toxicant.'
A Democratic candidate in Wisconsin's gubernatorial race released a campaign ad showing her breastfeeding while detailing her efforts to ban the use of Bisphenol A in baby bottles and sippy cups in the state.
The Washington Department of Ecology has added 20 chemicals and deleted three others from the list of substances reportable under the state's Children's Safe Products Reporting Rule.
Hormones—chemical messengers secreted by internal (endocrine) glands to control body functions—were discovered as the 20th century began, launching the field of endocrinology. Within a few decades, several natural steroids including the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone had been identified. But since the 1930s, we have been increasingly exposed to many endocrine disruptors—artificial organic substances that mimic natural hormones and can threaten human health.
Hagai Levine doesn’t scare easily. The Hebrew University public health researcher is the former chief epidemiologist for the Israel Defense Forces, which means he’s acquainted with danger and risk in a way most of his academic counterparts aren’t. So when he raises doubts about the future of the human race, it’s worth listening. Together with Shanna Swan, a professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Levine authored a major new analysis that tracked male sperm levels over the past few decades, and what he found frightened him. “Reproduction may be the most important function of any species,” says Levine. “Something is very wrong with men.”
FIVE YEARS AGO, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration officially banned the use of the chemical bisphenol A — commonly referred to as BPA — in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups. A year later, the agency extended the ban to the chemical’s use in baby formula packaging. Manufacturers had used BPA for decades, but modern research in animal models and human cell cultures suggested that the estrogen-like chemical can leach from containers to food and, particularly in infants, potentially affect prostate and brain function.
The foam, required by the Federal Aviation Administration, contains chemicals that are harmful and don't break down. Former firefighters say the foam was used liberally and rarely cleaned up.
