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Jan. 15, 2010 - Americans should take "reasonable steps" to avoid the plastics chemical BPA, the FDA says.
BPA, or bisphenol A, is everywhere. Created more than 40 years ago, millions of tons are made each year and used in a wide variety of products including plastic bottles and food can liners. More than 90% of Americans have detectable BPA in their bodies.
In 2008, the FDA issued a "draft assessment" finding that BPA was safe. But a short time later, the National Toxicology Program disagreed, noting "some concern" that BPA exposure during pregnancy or infancy might be bad for a person's long-term health.
Now the FDA says it officially agrees there is concern over fetus/infant exposure to BPA. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, announced the change of course -- and the start of a $30 million BPA research program -- at a news conference.
"At this time, we share the perspective of the NTP of some concern of health effects of BPA. This means we need to know more," Hamburg said. "In the interim, as a precaution, the FDA is taking reasonable steps to help reduce human exposure to BPA."
Exactly what are the "concerns" over BPA? Linda Birnbaum, PhD, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, spelled it out.
"There are critical periods of development when exposure to BPA may lead to certain health effects, including behavioral effects, diabetes, reproductive disorders, development of certain kinds of cancers, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and effects that can go from one generation to the next," Birnbaum said at the news conference.
The findings come from two previous National Institutes of Health studies that focused on developmental and reproductive effects. What about the adult health concerns raised by more recent studies?
The National Institutes of Health studies "focused on developmental and reproductive effects," Birnbaum said. "That is what led to our concern. It never looked at effects in adults, which is a different issue."
That's why the National Institutes of Health officially has "negligible concern" over adult health problems from BPA.
Despite it's newly increased concern, the FDA has not banned BPA and does not consider BPA-containing products, such as plastic baby bottles or plastic-lined cans of baby formula, to be unsafe.
In fact, the FDA says the risk of BPA from canned formula is far less than the risk of feeding a baby less nourishing food.
Nevertheless, U.S. health agencies are advising Americans to take "reasonable steps" to avoid BPA. Their advice: