Panel Weighs Bisphenol A Report

June 11, 2008 -- A panel of scientists today approved most of a government draft report on the safety of bisphenol A -- with a few key changes.

Bisphenol A is a chemical found in polycarbonate plastics (including some baby bottles and water bottles) and in epoxy resins, which line metal products including canned foods.

In April, the National Toxicological Program (NTP) released its draft report, which noted "some" concern about bisphenol A's possible effects on the prostate gland, mammary glands, and early age for puberty in females. An earlier NTP expert panel report had voiced less concern about those possible risks.

Today, independent scientists on an NTP advisory board weighed in. They affirmed the NTP draft report's conclusions with two exceptions: They recommend changing "some concern" to "minimal concern" for bisphenol A's effects on the mammary glands and early puberty.

Here is the full list of the board's conclusions:

• "Some concern" for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures.
• "Some concern" for effects in the prostate gland.
• "Minimal concern" for effects on the mammary glands.
• "Minimal concern" for effects on earlier age for female puberty.
• "Negligible concern" that exposure of pregnant women to bisphenol A will result in fetal or neonatal mortality, birth defects, or reduced birth weight and growth in their offspring.
• "Negligible concern" for reproductive effects in adults who don't work with BPA.
• "Minimal concern" for reproductive effects in adults who work with BPA.

The NTP will consider those recommendations -- but isn't required to follow them -- as it writes its final report, which is expected later this summer.

Board's Chairwoman Comments

Gail McCarver, MD, chaired the NTP advisory board. She's also the co-director of the pediatrics department at the Medical College of Wisconsin and on staff at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

"We had a very balanced process that was very transparent, very open," says McCarver. "I think we did quite a good job."

McCarver says she doesn't think the board downgraded the level of concern on bisphenol A's possible effects on mammary glands and earlier puberty in females.

"I don't know that it was a downgrading. I think it's just a difference in the choice of language," says McCarver, noting that the board chose language more in line with the earlier expert panel report because the evidence available was less strong on mammary and female puberty effects than on prostate effects.

"It's important that you don't think of 'minimal' as meaning 'none,'" she says. "There are a lot of factors that go into that consideration."

Asked what she would tell people with concerns about bisphenol A, McCarver says she thinks there are "reasons for concern, but there's also a lot of uncertainty in terms of the level of concern."