"A Taxpayer-Funded Family Feud," By Tom Schatz. It is bad enough when an agency spends taxpayer money foolishly, but it is even worse when those expenditures end up undermining the conclusions of another agency. Between 2000 and 2014, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sent $172.7 million in grant money to scientists to study the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and its effect on humans, particularly as an endocrine … [Read more...]

"The BPA Paradox – Too Many Studies?" By Steve Hentges. For many years, scientists around the world have been intensely interested in bisphenol A (BPA), a common chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. But what have we learned from the supersized investment in research on this one chemical, and what can we expect in the future? Recent articles suggest that we haven’t learned as much as might be expected from such a large investment, but more research on BPA is probably in … [Read more...]

"The Alternative Universe In Which BPA Is A Major Health Threat," By Geoffrey Kabat. With an estimated 40 percent of Americans, according to a Harvard poll, worried that they could contract Ebola, two days ago the journal PLoS ONE published a paper which claims to show that handling of cash register receipts puts you a risk of myriad diseases. The paper is from a group at the University of Missouri headed by Frederick vom Saal, a biologist who has the distinction of being the driving force … [Read more...]

"BPA in the Media – Let’s Read Between the Lines Before Drawing Conclusions," by BPA Coalition. This fall, writing about science has been the new black. However, communicating science to non-scientists is more difficult than one may think. Keeping the meaning intact while getting rid of the jargon often proves a daunting exercise. And unfortunately, readers, unless scientists themselves, often cannot make the difference between an informed and an uninformed piece. This why we compiled an … [Read more...]

"Bogus Anti-BPA Research," by By Erik Telford. Based on reading trend articles and the little stickers affixed to Nalgene water bottles, one might readily conclude that BPA, the common acronym for bisphenol A, is the contemporary danger to public health that lead was half a century ago. BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of many hard plastics and epoxy resins. When used in food packaging and containers, it helps to prevent spoilage, increases shelf life, and makes containers reusable. … [Read more...]

"Million Here, Million There for BPA: Politicized Research Marches On," by BiomonitoringInfo.org. An article in The Hill’s Congress Blog confirms what many of us who have been following the scientific literature have observed: Research spending on bisphenol A (BPA), including biomonitoring studies, has increased dramatically in recent years. BPA research frequently claims health effects from chemical exposure. As Mattie Duppler writes in “Millions for ‘pointless’ research” on Congress Blog, … [Read more...]

"Trust Robust Science, Don’t Blame BPA", By BPA Coalition. The exposure of a fraud who stoked BPA fears to advance his career should remind us all to trust robust science from authoritative sources. On September 10, NBC News in the United States revealed that Anoop Shankar, a researcher at West Virginia University, had fabricated his qualifications to obtain his position and also allegedly altered his research findings. This is of particular interest for the BPA Coalition because several of his … [Read more...]

"The Raging Controversy Over BPA Shows No Signs Of Abating," by Geoffrey Kabat (STATS). But that doesn’t mean that the two opposing sides have equal merit. In her “Poison Pen” blog in last week’s New York Times, the science writer Deborah Blum calls attention to new research that raises alarming questions about adverse effects on the female reproductive organs from exposure to BPA (bisphenol-A). Her article is titled, “In Plastics and Cans, a Threat to Women.” Blum described work by Jodi Flaws, … [Read more...]

"Dutch Public Health Institute ‘State of Knowledge’ on BPA: Not a Risk," By BPA Coalition. The news about bisphenol-A (BPA) continues. Last week, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) issued Part 1 of its investigation into BPA. RIVM’s report did not evaluate or cite specific studies but summarizes conclusions from earlier evaluations. Part 1 “gives an overview of the state of knowledge about BPA”. The institute’s appraisal of the available information … [Read more...]

"Meet BPA-Free, The New BPA," By Steve Hentges. There’s an emerging trend, of late, in the seemingly endless saga of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which is most commonly used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Although the BPA saga has not yet become completely passé, much of the attention that had been given to BPA is now focused on alternatives to BPA. Indeed, it seems that BPA-Free is becoming the new BPA. For what seemed an eternity, BPA had been at the center of a perfect … [Read more...]

"Are You Exposed To BPA, And Does It Matter?" By Steve Hentges. For quite a few years, one of the most popular chemicals for scientific inquiry has been bisphenol A (BPA). Scientists around the world have been conducting a diverse array of studies aimed at understanding whether BPA poses a risk to human health. Based on the weight of evidence from these many studies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently answered the question “Is BPA safe?” with a simple and unambiguous answer - … [Read more...]