High exposure to bisphenol A found in premature babies

Several years ago, a team of researchers working out of Massachusetts General Hospital found that some of the most vulnerable children — premature infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit — had particularly high exposure to the phthalate DEHP, a plasticizer used in PVC/vinyl products. Infants whose medical care involved the most intense use of phthalate-containing medical devices had DEHP levels five times those of infants whose care involved less intense use of these devices.

Now, researchers have tested urine taken from those same infants for compounds including bisphenol A.

These new tests found that the infants are exposed to bisphenol A at seven times the level of children in the general population. The infants had median bisphenol A levels of 29 parts per billion (ppb) compared to 3.7 ppb found in children tested by the Centers for Disease Control.

The researchers also discovered that, just as with phthalates, exposure to bisphenol A is much higher among infants whose care involved the greatest use of phthalate-containing medical devices. These devices are made of PVC/vinyl, a plastic which often contains phthalates as a plasticizer and which may also contain bisphenol A.

According to the authors, the “findings suggest that infants may be exposed during critical periods of their development to several potential reproductive and developmental toxicants at levels higher than those reported for the general population.”

The study – Exposure to Bisphenol A and other Phenols in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Premature Infants – by AM Calafat was published online Dec. 10, 2008 in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Erika Schreder is a staff scientist at Washington Toxics Coalition, where she leads the Coalition’s research on toxic chemicals in children’s products. In 2005 and 2006, she led the research for the Toxic-Free Legacy Coalition’s Pollution in People study. She has a Masters in Resource Ecology and Management from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in molecular biology from MIT.