BPA exposure puts girls at risk for breast cancer

A new study has shown that exposure to bisphenol A at levels lower than what the Environmental Protection Agency currently says is safe increases the risk of girls developing breast cancer as women.

The study was conducted on rats, whose mammary glands are similar to humans’.

It showed that female rats exposed to low levels of BPA through their mother’s breast milk as babies were more likely to develop breast tumors as adults.

The study was published by Environmental Health Perspectives.

It is the first to show that a mother rat’s exposure to BPA during lactation increases her daughter’s chances of growing breast tumors, according to a story in Environmental Health News.

If this study could be extended to humans, it suggests that current safety standards fail to adequately protect the public. Current standards -- which are being reevaluated -- do not take into account recent findings that pertain to health effects from very low level exposures of BPA and related endocrine disruptors.

Humans are exposed to BPA through a variety of common products, including food and drink containers, plastic food storage containers, plastic water bottles, baby bottles and infant formula cans. Recent studies have shown BPA is stored in our bodies longer than previously thought and, ironically, interferes with the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

The FDA and EPA have failed to act to protect the public from the health effects of BPA. Several states and cities, including Chicago, Connecticut, Washington and Minnesota, are pursuing bans.