Sex Hormone Patch
Published: 6 July 2006
Category: Hormonal Changes, Packaging CONCERNS
ABC NEWS recently aired a story (7/06/06) called “City of San Francisco Bans All Toys, Bottles Made with BPA.” The city has banned the plastic because of studies that found bisphenol A , or BPA, was “now detectable in most people’s bloodstreams and could cause dangerous hormonal changes in children.” The story went on say:
Frederick vom Saal, a biology professor at the University of Missouri at Columbia, who stumbled onto BPA in 1997 while studying fetal development. He found that BPA passed through the protective placenta from mother to baby, mimicking the behavior of the natural hormone estrogen.
Vom Saal, who has studied BPA ever since, said there is so much BPA in the environment it is as if we are all wearing “a sex hormone patch.” Six billion pounds of polycarbonates are produced each year, and much of it ends up in landfills, water systems and the air, vom Saal said. “You’re breathing it, you’re absorbing it.”
This may be of interest to people who are interested in keeping their foods pure and free of chemicals. BPA — sometimes indicated by a number 7 on products — is found mostly in strong plastics, such as nondisposable water bottles, baby bottles and in the lining of canned foods.