Toss Plastic Baby Bottles, Researchers Warn Parents

While you're tossing toys that might contain lead or dangerous magnets, add any polycarbonate plastic baby bottles to the pile.

That's the advice from researchers warning consumers about the common chemical known as bisphenol-A (BPA), according to The Chicago Tribune.

A Tribune article entitled "As Long As You're Hauling Out Toys, Take Some Plastic" states that BPA is an estrogen-like compound found in a variety of manufactured items such as the liners of food cans, eyeglasses lenses, and shatterproof baby bottles. When it's used on a regular basis, its chemical bond with polycarbonate in the baby bottles breaks down and leaches from the plastic.

An August article, "Jury Still Out on BPA/Plastics Risk," indicates that industry uses more than 6 billion pounds of the chemical each year. Author Daniel J. DeNoon says that The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) maintains that some 95 percent of us have measurable amounts in our blood and explains that BPA is toxic, with a half-life in the human body of around six hours.

According to Julie Deardorff, author of the Tribune article, researchers have noted that BPA acts like the female sex hormone estradiol. Studies on animals have cited female reproductive problems, puberty that occurs too early, and cancer of the breast and the prostate from exposure at even low levels. They have also uncovered a link to lowered sperm counts and development issues. According to the Tribune, last month, a Federal panel stated there was "some concern" about risk to brain development in fetuses, babies, or children. However, the relationship between animal studies and the effect on humans is the subject of major argument among scientists. Deardorff writes that a group of 38 independent BPA researchers recently published a warning that very low levels of exposure to BPA had the potential to cause adverse health effects, particularly in the case of a fetus.