BPA May Increase Kids’ Asthma Risk
Date Published: Thursday, February 4th, 2010
The industrial, estrogenic chemical bisphenol A—BPA—has been in the news recently for its connection to a wide variety of adverse effects. An issue since BPA is in an enormous variety of consumer products, including products geared to infants and young children. Now, Science Daily reported that based on emerging studies out of the University of Texas medical branch at Galveston, BPA could be linked to increased pediatric asthma risks.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was concerned about “the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and young children,” quoted Science Daily. This month, recent research has linked a mother’s exposure to BPA could be linked to an increased likelihood that her children will develop asthma, said Science Daily.
Science Daily recently reported that a research team from Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, found a link between BPA cardiovascular disease. The team’s 2008 paper was the first to link BPA and heart diseases, said Science Daily, noting that this new information confirms those findings. A different study just linked the chemical to intestinal problems. That study noted that intestines are the first organ in contact with the chemical following ingestion of BPA. Another study, conducted by the Yale School of Medicine, found that “nonhuman primates” exposed to BPA levels deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) experienced “interference with brain cell connections” that appeared to be BPA-associated, said Daily Finance previously.
BPA was developed in the 1930s as an estrogenic mimicker and appears to cause significant disruption to the body’s endocrine system. In urine tests, BPA is found in the overwhelming majority of Americans, more than 93 percent and, significantly, the chemical is found in 90 percent of all newborns. Given that BPA has been connected to increased risks of brain, reproductive, cardiac, and immune system diseases and disorders; problems with liver function testing; interruptions in chemotherapy treatment; and links with serious health problems, this is a serious issue.
Studies have overwhelmingly found BPA to have negative effects at doses lower than current Food & Drug Administration standards; retention in the body longer than was previously believed; leeching into liquids being held in containers regardless of the containers’ temperature; and longer lasting damage, which some feel can be passed to future generations. Recent reports link high levels of exposure to BPA to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in males.
“We gave BPA in drinking water starting a week before pregnancy, at levels calculated to produce a body concentration that was the same as that in a human mother, and continued on through the pregnancy and lactation periods,” said UTMB associate professor Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, lead author of a paper on the study appearing in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, quoted Science Daily. “What we were looking for is the asthma response to a challenge, something like what might happen if you had asthma and got pollen in your nose or lungs, you might have an asthma attack,” said UTMB professor Randall Goldblum, also an author of the paper, said Science Daily. “All four of our indicators of asthma response showed up in the BPA group, much more so than in the pups of the nonexposed mice.”
Although the team noted that additional research is needed, the test response indicated “it almost certainly has its roots in the property of BPA thought to contribute to other health problems,” said ScienceDaily.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 9:45 am and is filed under Health Concerns, Toxic Substances.
The industrial, estrogenic chemical bisphenol A—BPA—has been in the news recently for its connection to a wide variety of adverse effects. An issue since BPA is in an enormous variety of consumer products, including products geared to infants and young children. Now, Science Daily reported that based on emerging studies out of the University of Texas medical branch at Galveston, BPA could be linked to increased pediatric asthma risks.
Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it was concerned about “the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland of fetuses, infants and young children,” quoted Science Daily. This month, recent research has linked a mother’s exposure to BPA could be linked to an increased likelihood that her children will develop asthma, said Science Daily.
Science Daily recently reported that a research team from Peninsula Medical School and the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, found a link between BPA cardiovascular disease. The team’s 2008 paper was the first to link BPA and heart diseases, said Science Daily, noting that this new information confirms those findings. A different study just linked the chemical to intestinal problems. That study noted that intestines are the first organ in contact with the chemical following ingestion of BPA. Another study, conducted by the Yale School of Medicine, found that “nonhuman primates” exposed to BPA levels deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) experienced “interference with brain cell connections” that appeared to be BPA-associated, said Daily Finance previously.
BPA was developed in the 1930s as an estrogenic mimicker and appears to cause significant disruption to the body’s endocrine system. In urine tests, BPA is found in the overwhelming majority of Americans, more than 93 percent and, significantly, the chemical is found in 90 percent of all newborns. Given that BPA has been connected to increased risks of brain, reproductive, cardiac, and immune system diseases and disorders; problems with liver function testing; interruptions in chemotherapy treatment; and links with serious health problems, this is a serious issue.
Studies have overwhelmingly found BPA to have negative effects at doses lower than current Food & Drug Administration standards; retention in the body longer than was previously believed; leeching into liquids being held in containers regardless of the containers’ temperature; and longer lasting damage, which some feel can be passed to future generations. Recent reports link high levels of exposure to BPA to erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in males.
“We gave BPA in drinking water starting a week before pregnancy, at levels calculated to produce a body concentration that was the same as that in a human mother, and continued on through the pregnancy and lactation periods,” said UTMB associate professor Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, lead author of a paper on the study appearing in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, quoted Science Daily. “What we were looking for is the asthma response to a challenge, something like what might happen if you had asthma and got pollen in your nose or lungs, you might have an asthma attack,” said UTMB professor Randall Goldblum, also an author of the paper, said Science Daily. “All four of our indicators of asthma response showed up in the BPA group, much more so than in the pups of the nonexposed mice.”
Although the team noted that additional research is needed, the test response indicated “it almost certainly has its roots in the property of BPA thought to contribute to other health problems,” said ScienceDaily.
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This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 9:45 am and is filed under Health Concerns, Toxic Substances.
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