Study: Plastic bottles deliver BPA to our bodies

A new study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health has confirmed that drinking beverages from polycarbonate plastic water bottles will quickly and dramatically increase a person’s bisphenol A levels.

In fact, the study found that students who cleared their systems of BPA by drinking from stainless steel bottles for a week and then switched to drinking from plastic bottles containing BPA, the amount of BPA appearing in their urine shot up by 69 percent in a matter of days.

This is concerning because of the dozens of studies that have found links between BPA exposure and health problems ranging from diabetes and obesity to infertility and heart disease.

Until now, the Food and Drug Administration has insisted that BPA is safe. The agency has come under fire for relying exclusively on chemistry-industry-funded studies when coming to that conclusion.

But new leadership at the FDA says this Harvard study would be carefully evaluated as the agency takes a second look at BPA, according to a story in the Boston Globe.

Michael L. Herndon, an FDA spokesman, said in e-mail to the Globe yesterday that newly appointed chief scientist Jesse Goodman will "provide new leadership and take a fresh look at this important issue from a scientific and policy position, incorporating emerging science and appropriate input from both inside and outside the agency."

While some states are working quickly to enact bans of BPA, individuals can make immediate steps to protect themselves from the health effects of BPA.

Susie Davidson of Brookline, Mass. wrote in a letter to the editor to the Globe that she is enacting a one-woman BPA ban.

I say we should err on the side of caution. I don't see how man-made industrial chemicals could not be damaging to our systems, and I won't put my health into the hands of industry. So my bottles are stainless steel and glass, and I would advise others to follow suit.

Elizabeth Saunders, environmental health legislative director with Clean Water Action, wrote this to the Globe:

As a young woman who may have children someday, I know that I don't want to gamble with their health. I'd rather see BPA gone from our products and replaced with safer alternatives. According to the article, the state Department of Public Health is "weighing whether to warn pregnant women and young children" to avoid the chemical. Why does this even need to be weighed, and why would we stop there?