Chemical Linked to Birth Defects Found at Unsafe Levels in Canned Food
Plastics Compound Highest in Soup, Pasta, Baby Formula
Web Note: See the full EWG
report here on GentleNurturing.com.
WASHINGTON, March 5 -- In the most
comprehensive
U.S.
tests for an industrial chemical used to line cans of foods, an independent
laboratory found a compound linked to birth defects in more than half of the
samples of canned fruit, vegetables, soda, and baby formula from supermarket
shelves, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) report released
today.
The lab tests conducted for EWG found bisphenol A, or BPA, in 55 of 97 cans
of food purchased from major supermarket chains in
California,
Connecticut and
Georgia. The lab tested 27 national
name brands and three store brands.
The potential for BPA to cause birth defects and reproductive harm is being
evaluated today by a federal advisory panel at the Center for Evaluation of
Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR), a division of the National Institutes of
Health. Major concerns have been raised regarding the integrity of CERHR
science and conflicts of interest on the part of a Center contractor, Sciences
International (SI). SI plays a major management role in CERHR operations while
at the same time doing business with a client base that includes manufacturers
of chemicals under review by the Center, including BPA.
BPA is an ingredient in plastics and the epoxy resins that line food cans.
Low doses of BPA lead to a range of health problems, including birth defects of
the male and female reproductive systems in laboratory animals. Despite the
growing evidence of risk to human health, there are no limits on the amount of
BPA allowed in canned food.
The tests found that pregnant women and infants who eat even a single
serving of some canned foods are exposed to unsafe doses of BPA. Of the foods
tested--which included many of the canned foods eaten most often by women of
childbearing age--BPA levels were highest in canned pasta and soup. Canned
infant formula also had high levels. Just one to three servings of food with
these BPA levels could expose a pregnant woman or infant to harmful doses of
the chemical.
"BPA reads like a case study of how badly our chemical safety system is
broken," said Jane Houlihan, vice president for research at EWG.
"We've known it's toxic for 75 years, it's polluting the bodies of almost
all Americans, but we allow it in our food at levels that leave no margin of
safety for pregnant women and young children."
Scientists have detected BPA in breast milk, serum, saliva, urine, amniotic
fluid, and cord blood from at least 2,200 people in Europe, North America, and
Asia. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recently detected BPA in 95% of nearly 400
U.S. adults and
children.
The last comprehensive review of low dose studies found that the
overwhelming majority of peer-reviewed studies--94 of 115--have confirmed
BPA's toxicity at low levels of exposure. Few chemicals have been found to
consistently display such a diverse range of harm at such low doses.
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The Environmental Working Group and Environmental Working Group Action Fund
are nonprofits that use the power of information to protect public health and
the environment.
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