| Show Evidence Points to Risk From Plastic Marla Maria Cone ConeLos ConeLos ConeLos Los Angeles Times Evidence is mounting that a chemical in plastic that is one of the worlds world's most widely used industrial compounds may be risky risk in the small amounts that seep from bottles bottles bottles bot bot- and food packaging according to a report to be published this week in a scientific journal The authors of the report who reviewed more than studies urged the US U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to re-evaluate re the risks of A and consider restricting its use A or has been detected in nearly all human bodies tested in the United States It is a akey akey akey key building block in the manufacture ture of hard clear plastics including baby bottles water bottles and other food and beverage containers The chemical can leak from the plastic especially when the containers are heated cleaned with harsh detergents or exposed to acidic foods or drinks The plastics chemical is the focus f cus of one of the most contentious debates involving industrial compounds compounds compounds com com- pounds that can mimic sex hor hor- mones Toxicologists say that exposure exposure exposure expo expo- sure to man-made man hormones skews the developing reproductive systems and brains of newborn animals and could be having the same effects on human fetuses and young children Since the late some experiments experiments experiments exper exper- have found no effects at the doses of that people are exposed to while others suggest that it is estrogenic blocks testosterone testosterone testosterone testos testos- terone and harms lab animals at low doses Plastics industry representatives tives say that the trace amounts that migrate from some products pose no danger and are far below safety thresholds thresholds set by the EPA and other agencies In the new report to be published online in Environmental Health Perspectives on Thursday scientists Frederick vom Saal and Claude Hughes say that as of December studies have been published examining low doses of the chemical chemical chemical chemi chemi- cal and 94 of them found harmful effects In an interview on Tuesday vom Saal a reproductive biologist at University of Missouri Columbia said there is now an overwhelming weight of evidence that the plastics compound is harmful This is a snowball running down downa a hill where the evidence is accumulating accumulating accumulating at a faster and faster rate vom Saal said You cant can't open a scientific journal related to sex hormones hormones hormones hor hor- mones and not read an article that would just floor you about this chemical The chemical industry's position that this is a weak chemical has been proven totally false This is isa isa isa a phenomenally potent chemical as asa asa asa a sex hormone In their study vom Saal and Hughes suggest an explanation for forthe forthe forthe the conflicting results of studies percent of the 11 funded by chemical companies found no risk while 90 percent of the govern govern- ment-funded ment non-industry non studies reported harmful effects the released by One report Harvard Center for Risk Analysis last fall and funded by the American Plastics Council concluded that the evidence is very weak that has estrogen effects on males The scientists assembled at Harvard reviewed the results of 19 experiments experiments experiments ments on male animals published before April 2002 and found no consistent findings However vom Saal said the Harvard report was prepared before at least 60 new studies found harmful harmful harmful harm harm- ful effects in lab animals and it was too narrowly focused since it only looked at effects in males Steven G. G Hentges executive director of the business business business busi busi- ness unit of the American Plastics Council said Tuesday that unlike the Harvard report the new report lists numbers of studies and pieces of data without analyzing them to determine their strengths or weaknesses weaknesses weaknesses weak weak- nesses and whether they are relevant to human beings The sum of weak evidence does not make strong evidence Hentges said If ulf you look at all the evidence together it supports our conclusion that is not a risk to human health at the very low levels people are exposed to This paper does not change that conclusion It has an opinion not a scientific sion There has been an escalating battle battle battle bat bat- tle between vom Saal and the plastics plastics plas plas- plastics tics industry since 1997 when vom Saal was the first to reveal low-dose low effects in mice exposed to His discovery triggered a rash of new scientific studies by industry and government The chemical used in bonate plastics manufacture for half halfa a century is not currently subject to any bans plastics which are useful in items such as baby bottles because they are durable lightweight lightweight lightweight light light- weight and shatter-resistant shatter cannot be made without Hentges said the products have a strong and long safety record for more than 50 years |
