BPA’s brutal build up in the body
They tried to act like it was no big deal.
But now the truth is coming out, and the health ramifications remain largely unknown.
The FDA's stance on bisphenol A, much better known as BPA, has remained one of inaction. Last year, they advised Americans to take "reasonable measures" to avoid it. Which is, of course, nearly an impossible task, considering it's just about everywhere.
The chemical is so prevalent that more than 90 percent of Americans have detectable levels in their bodies.
We already know it messes with men's reproductive health (in fact, I just read yet another study supporting this conclusion, about which I first wrote late last year). Men with detectable levels (and again, we're talking 90 percent of Americans, so this is HUGE) have more than twice the risk of lower sperm motility and more than four times the risk of a lower sperm count.
And we already know it's been linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer (that's all the way back in the July 2006 issue of Nutrition & Healing).
But what we didn't know until now is just how quickly it builds up in the human body. And the news isn't good--BPA accumulates much more quickly than researchers previously thought.
Previous studies dealing with the effects of BPA were based on one-time administrations. But a new study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives took a different approach, "supplementing" mice with a daily dose of BPA (which is more like what we humans get in our world).
When we take in BPA through eating (it transfers from the containers and wraps in which the food is stored), the active form of BPA--which is, of course, the most threatening form--remains in the body and accumulates rapidly. This puts us at risk for the reproductive problems I already outlined as well as, according to the researchers, "behavioral abnormalities that we are just beginning to understand."
Pretty scary stuff.
Back in August of last year, the Natural Resource Defense Council moved to sue the FDA for their inaction. Governments around the rest of the world (including China as of March 2011) have banned the substance. The resistance of the US powers-that-be to do anything about this threat is downright ridiculous.
There are more and more BPA-free products hitting the shelves. They wear their labels proudly, so they're certainly not hard to find. But there's still a lot of work to be done before the stuff is wiped out for good. It's just a shame to think of how long we'll be dealing with the associated health risks (those we already know about and those we haven't yet discovered) even after we (hopefully) get rid of it.
Of course, every day the US delays taking action is another day it builds up in our systems.
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Christine O'Brien writes the e-letter Health eTips for Dr. Wright's Nutrition and Healing.
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Comments
Anonymous
These people are saying, we will put a rattle snake in a corner of a dark room, but be careful you don’t get bitten as you walk around the room, and is not only BPA is on everything that is allowed to be put on our water and food supply without any consideration for the population while in some other parts of the world at least they are getting rid of most of these additives. JAM
JD
I am very concerned about BPAs in can goods, plastic and all the toxins in our food and water supplies. There are some things we can do.
First, we should become politically engaged in the legislative process. Contact your representatives and let them know that they work for us. Instruct them that you want them to correct this problem. In fact demand it or we will remove them from office at the polls.
Second, we should expose the FDA and the FTC for allowing them to totally disregard the health and safety of the population.
In 1994 there was an issue with the fast food industry to put the ingredients on their products. A compromise was reached via lobbying efforts to allow only nutrional information and not the ingredients. They allowed the food industry to put all of their synthetics in their products under the guise of two words. SPICE and NATURAL FLAVORS.. The FDA has no regulation for the word natural.
Recently, due to the issue of HFCS the industry was allowed to change the word HFCS to PEAR JUICE to further advance the sale of their products. All this can be verified through the Congressional Research Center.
Third, People must start reading lables. "If you can't pronounce it don't buy it"... JD
Anonymous
what can we do to counteract this insidious chemical?
Ms. Donna Mae Travis
Its not only in canned and plastic goods. It is also in reciepts you get when you purchase items. I have to save these receipts for tax purposes and my concerns are that will I be absorbing those toxins from breathing in its vapors. Very few places have recently converted to other reciept printout papers and stuff. We must take action to stop these from being produced. They are also on thermal papers, very dangerous stuff. We must voice our concerns to those that have been voted in to represent us. If they don't do what we ask, then vote them out. I see too many people are in apathy, not even caring one way or the other. We can be the spark to make discussions with them to encourage that they too can take action. The more can be involved, the better off we will be. Come on people, lets do it. Take all these blinders off and see whwat is happening around you.
Davy777
Ok - great information but in the meantime what do we do to get BPA out of our bodies? I would presume at least echinacea or ginseng. Any other ideas?
Peter Hartman
Ms. Travis- could you photocopy your receipts or scan then into a pdf file? Then discard the thermal paper. Not sure what the IRS would say about that.
Lori
I think the best we can do to counter the effects of these types of endocrine disruptors is to eat a largely organic, whole foods diet. Green foods help the body detoxify, and beneficial fats, including "clean" animal fats, supply our bodies with essential nutrients that not only support our hormones, brain, and nervous system, but also act as powerful antioxidants and antioxidant precursors. Fat soluble vitamins like A, D3, and K2 can affect gene expression, so if we're replete in these nutrients, we have less of a chance of passing on to our offspring (those of you who may still be reproducing) any gene"tweaking" done by these chemicals. And remember, we don't have to worry about packaging materials if we don't buy food that comes in packages.
gennaro
vote them out now.violation of our rights for safe food supply and those who have accepted kick backs by industry and not reporterd the income for tax evadion.send the sob to kail .i reader swnd them to rhe horest bart of hell.
Lori
And this from the New York Times (not good news)
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/201...
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