BPA affects development of monkeys, tadpoles and humans

The bad news keeps on coming as scientists continue to learn more about bisphenol A.

Studies released in the past week show that: male monkeys who were exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) in the womb act more like female monkeys as infants, low levels of BPA exposure in frog tadpoles affected the thyroid and slowed down development and a third case found that people who were exposed to products containing BPA and phthalates over a short period of time saw sudden and dramatic increases in the chemicals’ presence in their blood.

These studies are just the latest in a growing case against BPA and phthalates, which are harmful to human health, yet persist in so many common consumer products.

We are exposed to BPA through food and drink containers that contain the chemical. Phthalates are found in many personal care products where they prolong the life of fragrance.

The monkey study used a monkey species that is quite similar to humans and exposed pregnant monkeys to BPA. Infant monkeys were then observed over the course of several months. Researchers found that male monkeys displayed behaviors that are typically more common in female infant monkeys. This result raises the question of how BPA – which is known to interfere with hormones – affects the development of humans in the womb.

Scientists looked at how BPA affected thyroid development in tadpoles because the thyroid is critical to both human and tadpole development. Tadpoles were exposed to BPA during development and compared to a group of tadpoles that hadn’t been exposed to the chemical. Scientists found that the BPA group developed slower than the others, and that the higher the BPA dose, the slower the tadpole’s development. This study backs up a host of studies that are showing the BPA slows and alters development.

In the third case, the authors of the new book Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects our Health went on a chemical “fast” by avoiding all products containing BPA and phthalates. They then went on a “binge” of exposure to these common products. What they found was that short-term exposure caused a dramatic jump in the chemicals’ presence in their blood.

In one instance, the author ate exclusively canned food that had been microwaved in a BPA-containing plastic container for just two days. The amount of BPA in his blood increased 7.5 times, according to a story in The Vancouver Sun.

The experiments show that, "our choices as consumers really do have a profound, and very rapid, effect on the pollution levels in our bodies," according to the authors.

But there is some good news, they write.

"If we could crank up our levels of these things in a couple of days, anybody can reduce their levels and their children's levels of these and other chemicals in a similarly quick fashion simply by making different purchasing choices at the supermarket."