The signers, representing 40,000 researchers and clinicians, want federal regulators to use to better and broader assessments of new chemicals.  Prompting the letter is the controversy over BPA, the plastics additive that is being blamed for a host of ills in the population, including erectile dysfunction, delayed puberty for boys, early puberty for girls, and higher rates of diabetes, along with cancer. BPA is commonly found in soda and water bottles, store receipts, and tin can linings.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, the regulators in charge of permitting new chemicals, often lack information about the hazards of chemicals produced in high volumes, charged the scientists. “The need for swifter and sounder testing and review procedures cannot be overstated,” the letter states.

Rather than using outdated toxicology, the regulators need to be relying on scientists who have studied the effect of substances on the body. “We need geneticists, we need developmental and reproductive biologists and we need the clinical people on board to actually help interpret and evaluate some of the science,” said Patricia Hunt, a professor in the Washington State University School of Molecular Biosciences and corresponding author of the letter. “As things stand now, things get rapidly into the marketplace and the testing of them is tending to lag behind.”

Hunt said the letter was driven in particular by growing concerns about chemicals like the plasticizer bisphenol A, or BPA, subject of more than 300 studies finding adverse health effects in animals. Because such chemicals look like hormones to our body, they’re like strangers getting behind the wheels of our cars, Hunt said.

“Hormones control everything—our basic metabolism, our reproduction,” she said. “We call them endocrine disruptors. They’re like endocrine bombs to a certain extent because they can disrupt all these normal functions.”

Hunt’s testimony last year helped make Washington the fifth state to outlaw BPA in children’s food containers and drinking cups.

The organizations signing the Science letter are: the American Society of Human Genetics, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the Genetics Society of America, the Society for Developmental Biology, the Society for Pediatric Urology, the Society for the Study of Reproduction, and the Society for Gynecologic Investigation.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/wsu-scf030111.php

Yet another study demonstrates this. EnvironmentalHealthNews.org reported this month on a study published recently in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. In this study, human placenta cells from five new mothers were cultured in a laboratory, and BPA was added in a variety of doses found in the blood of pregnant women and fetuses. The doses ranged from .002 to 200 micrograms per milliliter. The placenta cells were exposed to the BPA at these levels for 24 hours and then examined for damage.

Significant damage was found. Three types of damage were measured; all were significantly higher than the control. But one type of  damage measured much higher at the lower dose of BPA, a particularly troubling finding. EnvironmentalHealthNews.org concludes that BPA can disrupt the placenta enough to affect the growth of the fetus.

BPA is found not only in bottled water bottles, but in tin can liners, dental sealants, and a variety of products. Nearly all Americans have BPA in their blood; children have higher levels than adults.

One way to help protect your family from BPA is to use a home water filter such as Multi-Pure’s, the best on the market. Put your purer, cleaner water in stainless steel bottles to take with you.

Source:  EnvironmentalHealthNews.org

On the USA Today BPA page, Frederick Vom Saal, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, speaks on an audio recording.  While the BPA concentrations used are low, he says, “this is a phenomenally potent chemical.”  BPA has been linked with cancer and with late puberty in boys, early puberty in girls. The FDA has maintained that it thinks it is safe, but is currently reviewing its position, in the face of growing outcry.

If you want to keep your family safe from this chemical, don’t buy bottled water or soda. Instead, get the safest water source: a home water filter. Multi-Pure’s home water filter is the best triple-carbon filter on the market. It is certified to remove the most toxins, while allowing the healthful minerals we need, like calcium, to remain in the water. It’s durable. It has the best warranty on the market, too: 90 days satisfaction, and lifetime warranty on the housing.  Shouldn’t you take a look?

The study, released by Human Reproduction on Nov. 10, builds on animal studies that suggest BPA in food containers such as bottled water and soda bottles is an endocrine disrupter.

In the study, investigators interviewed male workers in China who had been exposed to extremely high levels of BPA, 50 times higher than the average person. They discovered significantly higher risk of sexual dysfunction in the workers.

Whether this study is significant because of the high exposure level remains to be seen. In the meantime, the FDA is re-evaluating its prior judgment that BPA is safe to use in food containers such as bottles and as tin can liners. The FDA is expected to announce its determination at the end of the month.

The Environmental Working Group, which advocates for clean water and other topics, announced it is troubled by the study’s results because it indicates BPA affects not only children, but adults.

If you are troubled about chemicals in plastics, you should definitely stop drinking bottled water and get yourself a great high-quality home water filter to protect your family. Multi-Pure home water filters are the best in the business.