Compound BPA Found To Cause Reproductive Disorders, Study, Scientists Say

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Fertility;  Public Health
Article Date: 08 Aug 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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The journal Reproductive Toxicology on Thursday published on its Web site a statement warning that the compound bisphenol A, which is found in plastic and is similar to estrogen, likely is causing various human reproductive disorders, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The statement was accompanied by a new study from NIH that found uterine damage in animals exposed to bisphenol A, also known as BPA. The damage is a potential predictor of reproductive diseases among women, including fibroids, endometriosis, cystic ovaries and cancers. Several dozen scientists reviewed about 700 earlier studies and for the first time linked BPA to female reproductive disorders. They also concluded that people are exposed to higher BPA levels than those found to harm laboratory animals, according to the Times. Infants and fetuses are most likely to experience harm from BPA, the Times reports.

In the statement, 38 scientists said that BPA causes cells to turn genes on or off, which could predispose a fetus or child to a reproductive disorder. In addition, BPA levels found in lab animals are similar to those found in human fetal blood, the statement said.

According to Retha Newbold of NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the study found that BPA can cause reproductive damage similar to the anti-miscarriage drug diethylstilbestrol, which was given to pregnant women from the 1940s to the 1970s. Diethylstilbestrol was later found to cause infertility and reproductive cancers among children born to women who took the drug.

Newbold said that it is "quite possible that endometriosis, in particular fibroids" could be a result among women who were exposed to low levels of BPA as infants or fetuses. "Fibroids is one of our major concerns because they affect 70% of U.S. women" and often lead to hysterectomies, she said.

According to the Times, no studies have been conducted on BPA's effects among humans, and the scientists who signed the statement are calling for human research. Jerrold Heindel, a scientist at NIEHS, said that although there have not been human studies, there is enough animal research to determine that reproductive damage in humans is likely.

According to the Times, two government scientific committees in Europe and Japan recently determined that the data on BPA are not comprehensive enough to determine if a public health threat exists. A panel from NIH's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction next week will meet to decide whether to declare BPA a human reproductive toxin, the Times reports.

Reaction
The statement and NIH study "intensify a contentious debate over whether [BPA] poses a public threat," the Times reports. Frederick vom Saal, a reproductive toxicologist at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said, "We now have, without a doubt, the most comprehensive set of documents covering every aspect of [BPA], and the hope here is that government panels will actually look at this information, digest it and incorporate it into their decision-making." Steve Hentges of the American Chemistry Council's polycarbonate/BPA group said the scientists who signed the statement are "completely at odds with the findings of every governmental scientific body that has reviewed the same science" (Cone, Los Angeles Times, 8/3).

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