[OKC] From NPR: Plastic's New Frontier: No Scary Chemicals

[Miles, Karen]

Plastic's New Frontier: No Scary Chemicals
by Jon Hamilton <http://www.npr.org/people/2100615/jon-hamilton> 
Some businessmen and scientists in Austin, Texas, are trying to change
the way consumers think about plastic.
They say it's not enough to buy a water bottle or sandwich bag that's
free of BPA, the chemical consumer groups have criticized because, at
least in animals, it acts like the hormone estrogen. They say BPA is
only part of the problem, and they think they have a solution that
involves a new approach to making plastic.
Mike Usey, the CEO of PlastiPure, says people need to stop focusing on
BPA.
"If you're concerned about BPA, and you think that BPA-free is resolving
the problem, then you should be aware that the majority, by and large,
of these BPA-free products have high levels of estrogenic activity," he
says.
In other words, they release other chemicals that also mimic estrogen.
Usey's claim is more than marketing hype. This week, scientists from
PlastiPure and its sister company, CertiChem, published a study of more
than 450 plastic products, including many labeled BPA-free. It found
that more than 90 percent released chemicals that mimic estrogen.
To Fear Or Not To Fear Plastics?
Exactly how BPA affects humans and the seriousness of its effects are
still very much up for debate. The U.S. government generally advocates
caution and more research, but agencies have issued a range of hesitant
warnings. The National Toxicology Program, a division of the National
Institutes of Health, says it has "some concern
<http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/media/questions/sya-bpa.cfm> " about
potential BPA exposure to the brains and prostate glands of fetuses,
infants and children. Other agencies say they have lingering, unresolved
"questions" about the chemical.
Those questions largely circle around how prolonged exposure to the
chemical in childhood or adulthood could affect reproduction and growth;
how low-dose exposure at sensitive developmental stages could affect
children and babies later in life; and how parental exposure could
affect the next generation. Studies have shown links between BPA and
cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a host of other illnesses.
One major sticking point for scientists is the challenge of drawing
conclusions from hundreds of studies, each using different animals (mice
and rats among them), doses and routes of exposure. As the Environmental
Protection Agency has noted
<http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/bpa_acti
on_plan.pdf> , "there is controversy about whether effects seen at lower
doses in animals are meaningful and relevant to humans." And scientists
have also wondered whether rodents are more sensitive to the chemical
than humans because they metabolize it differently.
Article continues at: 
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/04/134240436/plastics-new-frontier-no-estroge
nic-activity&sc=nl&cc=nh-20110304
 
 
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