Mar 5, 2007 6:19 pm US/Central
Plastic Used In Baby Bottles May Have Health Risk
Commonly Used Material Could Lead To Low Birth Weight, Miscarriage, Inftertility And Cancer
CBS 2's Alita Guillen contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A government panel of independent experts Monday began meeting on possible health risks related to a common plastic.
Bisphenol A is a building block of polycarbonate plastics and can be found in products and packages most of us use every day.
You'll find the chemical in CDs, DVDs and reusable plastic containers, usually marked with a "7."
It also prolongs the shelf life of many canned fruits and vegetables. You'll find it as a resin coating inside the can.
Some baby products, including bottles, also contain the substance.
"That compound can leach out slowly over time into the food itself and when you eat the food you are ingesting small quantities of bisphenol A," said Daniel Tessier, Ph.D., a toxicologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Helath.
Tessier says bisphenol A disrupts the body's hormone system. The levels are much lower than naturally-occurring estrogen and testosterone. But, he fears the impact could still be substantial.
"A whole long list of studies have shown a variety of reproductive and developmental effects in animal models," he said.
Effects include low birth weight, miscarriage, infertility and cancer.
The plastics industry maintains bisphenol A is safe. Even Tessier admits many questions remain unanswered.
For example it is unknown if the effects in people are the same as in animals. If so, how much is dangerous?
"We don't know what exposure level in humans would be harmful yet. We're still describing that in animals," Tessier said.
That's why the National Institutes of Health is holding the hearing – to try to answer those questions. The panel is expected to announce its findings on Wednesday.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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