What’s more, the changes can be passed down to subsequent generations. Hunt and her team found that BPA and its alternatives disrupt this process in a way that could eventually cause a decrease in sperm counts in males and a reduction in egg quality in females. Mice-and humans-normally get one copy of genetic material from each parent and then splice together bits of each to form the chromosome they pass on to the next generation. The results show that common BPA replacements-BPS, BPF, BPAF and diphenyl sulphone-can interfere with what Hunt characterizes as “the very, very, very, very earliest part of making eggs and sperm.” The latest study adds to the mounting research that suggests consumers aren't off the hook buying BPA-free plastic. Each new version has only slight differences, as if swapping a blue Lego block for a red one. They all have “BP” in their names because they share the same basic chemical structure of a bisphenol. Since BPA-free became trendy, manufacturers went on a plastic-developing spree, creating more variations than scientists can keep track of: BPS, BPF, BPAF, BPZ, BPP, BHPF, and the list goes on. According to the FDA website : "Studies pursued by FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) have shown no effects of BPA from low-dose exposure." Different, But Not Necessarily Better But the FDA only officially bans the compound from use in baby bottles, sippy cups, and infant formula packaging.
Mounting public pressure pushed companies to move away from BPA, leading to an influx of products touting their “BPA-free” status. From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic is created and what we can do to slow the lasting repercussions this material will have on both our planet and our lives. Once a completely natural product, much of today's plastic is man-made and largely dependent upon fossil fuels. The compound has since become so ubiquitous that of the 2,517 people tested in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 93 percent had detectable levels of BPA in their urine. But as people drank from their water bottles and ate their microwaved dinners, they were unknowingly dosing themselves with small amounts of BPA that leached from the plastic containers into their food and drink. Soon, BPA was everywhere: reusable water bottles, plastic plates, the liners in canned foods, sippy cups, grocery receipts, and even some dental sealants. Soon after, Bayer and General Electric discovered the molecules had a nifty trick: They could link together with a small connector compound to form a shiny, hard plastic known as polycarbonate. In the 1950s, BPA was used in the first epoxy resins.
Even human studies have linked BPA to a range of health issues. A slew of studies document negative reproductive, developmental, and metabolic effects in a menagerie of wildlife- rhesus monkeys, zebrafish, nematodes, and mice. In the past couple decades, research on BPA has exploded. In the case of BPA, concerns surround its estrogen-mimicking effects. “What's kind of disturbing about this is hormones regulate almost everything in our bodies,” says Johanna Rochester, senior scientist with the nonprofit The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who was not involved in the work. In the body, these chemicals can act like hormones or disrupt normal hormone functions. It's what's known as an endocrine disrupting compound. But this detective work is a losing proposition, he says likening it to a game of “chemical whack-a-mole.” What Is BPA?īisphenol A, or BPA, is a common building block in resins and some types of plastic. “We have to play catch up as disease detectives,” says Leonardo Trasande, director of the division of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone Health, who was not involved in the research. What's more, the study underlines a broader issue in commercial compound development: When chemicals are removed from the market, they're often replaced by others that not only look similar-but act similarly in our bodies. Of course, it's hard to draw conclusions between the effects in these tiny furry critters and those in our comparatively massive fleshy forms, but the latest work adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests all is not safe in the world of BPA-free plastics. Although whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea, they're still threatened by ingesting small bits of plastic. A whale shark swims beside a plastic bag in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen.
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