Danger in Plastic Containers

This is one you have probably heard rumors about. I remember my Mom mentioning to me years ago that plastic bottles weren't safe and we should always use glass.

Then there was talk about how the chemical in plastic containers interferes with estrogen and can increase the chance for disease in women.

But today the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) which is used in food containers and baby bottles is linked to diabetes, heart disease and liver abnormalities in adults.

The study, as reported by Agence France-Presse, found that adults with the highest concentrations of BPA in their urine had nearly triple the odds of cardiovascular disease, compared with those with the least amounts of the compound in their systems. Furthermore those with the highest BPA levels had more than double the
odds of having diabetes.


"Higher urinary concentrations of BPA were associated with an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and liver-enzyme abnormalities," the authors wrote.


In the past consumer groups have complained that the FDA has ignored studies done on animals showing that small doses of BPA could provoke changes during development in the brain, prostate glands and at puberty for females.


A group of toxicologists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also published their concerns about the levels of the chemical found in many food containers, plastic bottles and dental fillings in a study earlier this month. According to the NIH findings, the chemical could have dangerous effects on the development of the brain and the prostate gland in fetuses and newborn babies.


BPA is said to interfere with estrogen, the hormone which plays a key role in fetal and childhood development.


Canada has already outlawed BPA citing it as a health risk and major environmental contaiminant.


The compound is found in detectable levels in more than 90% of Americans, "primarily through food, but also through drinking water, dental sealants, dermal exposure, and inhalation of household dusts," researchers said.