BPA News

Everyone has heard about bisphenol A (BPA). It’s primarily used as a raw material to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins, both of which are high performance materials used in many consumer products that help to make our lives better and safer. But that’s probably not what you’ve heard.

A common definition of the word dust refers to fine, dry particles of matter. From dust storms on earth to cosmic dust, just about everywhere that any form of matter is present, dust will also be present. That includes the ubiquitous household dust that seems to magically appear in our homes on every surface and in the form of dust bunnies under furniture.

For years, opponents of glyphosate have argued the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup is harmful for your health. These messages, along with a 2015 decision by the International Agency of Research into Cancer (IARC) to classify the chemical as a probable carcinogen, have spurred a group of plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against Roundup’s manufacturer, Monsanto, alleging the herbicide caused their cancer. At the same time, the State of California has survived a legal challenge from Monsanto, winning the right to require a warning label about glyphosate’s health risks.

It’s widely understood that a key reason why life developed on Earth is because of water.  A common definition of a habitable environment is one in which plenty of liquid water is available to sustain life.  In short, we can’t live without water.

But there’s more to it than just the presence of water.  We want our water to be clean and healthy so as to avoid risks to people and the environment from unwanted contaminants.  With that goal in mind, numerous environmental monitoring studies have been conducted that look for various contaminants in water, and generally find some at trace levels.

The headline almost jumps out at you – “BPA Substitute Could Cause Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.” That alarming headline appears in an industry publication, but the same story was widely reported in the popular media, which tends to cover science only when they can create scare stories.

It’s not hard these days to find stories in the popular media about the presence of various chemical contaminants in our environment.  Included in this genre are stories about trace levels of chemicals in common consumer products, in the air we breathe, and in the water we drink.  Almost inevitably the stories suggest that even minor exposures are harming our health.

Those making the traditional green bean casserole over the holidays might see a label on their can of green beans or mushroom soup that reads, “BPA-free lining.” BPA, or bisphenol A, is an industrial chemical used to make plastics and resins, which are often used in containers that store food and beverages.

Specifically, most metal food and beverage cans have a thin interior coating that contains BPA. This coating protects the can from corrosion, and as a result, prevents contamination from dissolved metals or life-threatening bacteria. We can probably all agree that nobody is hoping for a side of botulism with their holiday meal.

If you worry about risks to your health from cellphones, genetically modified foods or any of the many threats that pop into the news, reading cancer epidemiologist Geoffrey C. Kabat’s new book may allay some of your fears by putting the headlines in perspective. But reassuring you is not Kabat’s sole mission.

A recent study from French government researchers reported new results on the exposure of pregnant women to more than 100 substances that might be a concern for the health of a developing fetus.  The study examined exposure to various metals (e.g., lead, mercury, arsenic) and many common organic compounds that we might encounter in our daily lives.

Scholars of scientific hype in the modern age typically point their finger at the media, the internet and, above all, the gullibility of the science-illiterate general public. While these elements do clearly play their part, cancer epidemiologist Geoffrey Kabat is more interested in blaming a more unlikely enabler: scientists themselves.