Scientists say FDA still getting it wrong on bisphenol A

A collection of international scientists is preparing to release a statement saying that the Food and Drug Administration’s claim that bisphenol A is safe is unreliable, according to a story in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The scientists gathered in late March in Germany to discuss BPA. Those discrediting the FDA includes an American scientist who was the author of two studies the FDA relied on to come to its conclusion. The scientist, Rochelle Tyl, conducted studies which were funded by the American Chemistry Council. Her studies were limited to the scope of BPA’s effect on the reproductive systems of rats. She found no impact. She now says her studies had errors and inconsistencies, according to the story.

"It is becoming undeniable that BPA is dangerous," said Laura Vandenberg, a developmental biologist at Tufts University, one of 58 scientists from around the world invited to the conference in Germany. "The FDA's standard for safety is reasonable certainty. It is no longer reasonable to say that BPA is safe."

The FDA has faced much criticism over the fact that the majority of the studies they considered when determining whether BPA was safe were funded by the American Chemistry Council, which has a vested interest in the continued production and sale of BPA. The scientists who gathered in March said the FDA needs to cast a wider net when looking at scientific studies.

Scores of studies have linked BPA to behavioral problems in animals, such as aggression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Other studies have found changes to the prostate gland that have been shown to lead to cancer. But the FDA discounted them because they did not adhere to the Good Laboratory Practices designation. The internationally recognized designation is considered by some to be biased toward industry because it requires more animals to be tested than many academic institutions can afford or are willing to test.

Read more of the Journal Sentinel’s Sunday coverage of BPA. Learn what states are doing to address the BPA threat in States lead way on bisphenol A bans. Read about what the scientists gathered in Germany said about BPA’s effect on babies: Babies carry more BPA, scientists group agrees.