Missouri researcher says pregnant women's exposure to chemical in plastic can lead to disabilities in babies

From KOMU-TV in Missouri:

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The FDA released concerns about bisphenol-a, or BPA, a commonly used chemical in plastic bottles and food containers.

The agency regarded the chemical as safe in the 1960's but released a statement on Friday saying it had some concerns about potential health risks that may come with BPA exposure. In it's defense, the American Chemical Council released a statement on its Web site saying, "The HHS statement today confirms that exposure to BPA in food contact products has not been proven harmful to children or adults. However, the agency suggests more research needs to be done and provided guidance on how parents can choose to limit infant exposures."

MU Biology Professor Fred vom Saal has been researching the effects of BPA for 15 years. He said the chemical has proven very harmful to animals and humans and action needs to be taken soon to replace plastics that contain BPA.

"It causes abnormalities that you don't see in terms of a person becoming grossly ill, you just see them having health problems," vom Saal said. "In men, it damages every reproductive organ...in women it causes an increase in breast cancer."

Vom Saal said BPA is especially dangerous when exposed to pregnant women and their unborn children.

"It causes chromosomal damage in a woman's ovaries so that they will produce babies with abnormalities, like Down syndrome, which would be increased, or even fetal death," vom Saal said.

BPA can be found in some hard plastic water bottles, baby bottles, toddler sippy cups, tupperware, water coolers, carbon receipt paper and in the lining of all food and beverage cans. Vom Saal said the chemical seeps into the solids and liquids stored in food containers and is released in the blood stream. When a container containing BPA is heated up, or microwaved, the release of the chemical happens even faster. He said BPA is an estrogenic chemical that can lead to cancers, auto-immunity, asthma, diabetes, obesity, and much more.

"Staggering small amounts of a chemical that can act like a hormone can cause very large changes in our cells and reprogram the way genes function in our cells," vom Saal said.

Vom Saal said staying away from plastics containing BPA can drastically reduce health risks. He said he hopes action is taken quickly to get those plastics off the market.

"Do we want to wait 20 years to find out that this has been a disaster for millions and millions of babies that really should be protected from this? Or do we go with the existing information and say let's preemptively get this out of our food contact items," vom Saal said.