Michael
Oct 19th 2008, 04:51 PM
LONDON (Reuters) - A study has for the first time linked a common chemical used in everyday products such as plastic drink containers and baby bottles to health problems, specifically heart disease and diabetes.
Until now, environmental and consumer activists who have questioned the safety of bisphenol A, or BPA, have relied on studies showing harm from exposure in laboratory animals.
But British researchers, who published their findings on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed urine and blood samples from 1,455 U.S. adults aged 18 to 74 who were representative of the general population.
Source (http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSLF18683220080916?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0)
Here's the real kicker...
"Most of these findings are in keeping with what has been found in animal models," Iain Lang, a researcher at the University of Exeter in Britain who worked on the study, told a news conference.
"This is the first ever study (of this kind) that has been in the general population," Lang said.
Read the last line a couple of times.
The chemical is one of the most widely used as it is approved for contact with human food - fully FDA approved.
And no study on the human effects was ever done until now - and only by some independent researchers?
Ummm... what does the FDA actually do if it doesn't actually test the stuff it approves? Is this just like Genetically Modified Foods where the FDA just rubber-stamps the non-verified 'research' data provided by the manufacturer? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink - and then the agency director gets rewarded by a nice fat job at the manufacturer - just like the way the MIC and most US regulatory systems work!)
Something tells me that we could find these kinds of results from a majority of FDA approved industrial chemicals. Apparently the reason that so many think these chemicals are 'safe' is because we've got no 'data' proving they are dangerous - quite simply because we've never actually studied these products!
Until now, environmental and consumer activists who have questioned the safety of bisphenol A, or BPA, have relied on studies showing harm from exposure in laboratory animals.
But British researchers, who published their findings on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed urine and blood samples from 1,455 U.S. adults aged 18 to 74 who were representative of the general population.
Source (http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSLF18683220080916?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0)
Here's the real kicker...
"Most of these findings are in keeping with what has been found in animal models," Iain Lang, a researcher at the University of Exeter in Britain who worked on the study, told a news conference.
"This is the first ever study (of this kind) that has been in the general population," Lang said.
Read the last line a couple of times.
The chemical is one of the most widely used as it is approved for contact with human food - fully FDA approved.
And no study on the human effects was ever done until now - and only by some independent researchers?
Ummm... what does the FDA actually do if it doesn't actually test the stuff it approves? Is this just like Genetically Modified Foods where the FDA just rubber-stamps the non-verified 'research' data provided by the manufacturer? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink - and then the agency director gets rewarded by a nice fat job at the manufacturer - just like the way the MIC and most US regulatory systems work!)
Something tells me that we could find these kinds of results from a majority of FDA approved industrial chemicals. Apparently the reason that so many think these chemicals are 'safe' is because we've got no 'data' proving they are dangerous - quite simply because we've never actually studied these products!