The possible health hazards of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical in some plastic bottles and other consumer products, flared anew on Tuesday but with a surprising variation. Last spring’s furor focused on alleged effects said to result from the material being an estrogen mimic, with impacts on puberty, pregnancy and the like. This time a new study in JAMA’s online edition links BPA to diabetes and heart disease. If all the claims are true, BPA is one versatile molecule. The JAMA report, to be published later this week, was posted early online to coincide with a meeting of the FDA’s science advisory board, which is reviewing agency policy on the substance.

The new study was a national survey of 1,455 adults that looked for BPA levels in urine and health status. It found that the highest BPA levels were associated with a twofold higher incidence of diabetes and heart disease. There was no association with a list of other diseases. The study, it should be noted, found only a correlation and said nothing about cause and effect.

Steven Reinberg, in US News & World Report‘s Web site, got this quote from one researcher, pretty well summing up the situation: “I am really torn here, because I really believe that BPA has some concerns, but this paper does not prove that.”

A sampling of other takes on this news:
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Lindsey Tanner of the AP get good comment from two gurus of interpreting medical information for the public, Steve Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz of Dartmouth (they were not impressed); Bryan Walsh in Time online sets the story in some historical perspective; NPR‘s Alison Aubrey in a nice package with a Q&A from Kathleen Masterson; Lindsey Layton in The Washington Post; Liz Szabo in USA Today.

Grist: The JAMA report is here.

-BR

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Health & Medicine Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.