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Fetal Exposure to BPA Linked to Childhood Behavior Problems
Janelle Sorensen
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
In the first human study examining links between BPA and behavior it was found that toddler girls whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of BPA in early pregnancy were more aggressive and boys were more anxious and withdrawn.
The researchers are unsure if the behavioral issues will persist, but studies in mice indicate they will. Impacts only manifested if the exposure levels happened during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, reinforcing our growing understanding of the extreme vulnerability of a fetus during this initial window of development.
According to the report in Science News, “This is the first study to link human behavioral impacts with BPA, a common ingredient in hard polycarbonate plastics and the resins used in food-can linings. Emerging data from an unrelated research group points to another especially rich newfound source of BPA to which people unwittingly may be exposed: thermally printed cash-register receipts.”
Cash register receipts?
Yes, and it’s been widely acknowledged since last year that BPA was turning up in very unexpected places. I had personally written off the risk shortly after I learned about BPA in pizza boxes, receipts, and toilet paper (among other things) as the exposure was so small compared to something like canned food. In fact, it’s been widely assumed that 90% of our exposure was from food sources. New findings are increasingly finding that to be untrue.
According to The Globe and Mail back in April - Dr. Frederick vom Saal, one of the leading researchers of BPA, said “touching items such as cash-register and credit-card receipts may lead to some BPA being absorbed through the skin in much the same fashion as an estrogen patch delivers a dose of hormone.”
Can we just ban this chemical already? Enough is enough.
