June 7, 2008 at 6:52AM
By Dan Shapley
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For years, independent scientists have been raising concerns about Bisphenol-A, a chemical commonly found in plastics, the lining of cans and other products so common in American commerce that it's virtually impossible to go a day without using one.
For years, the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the use of these chemicals, stood by the plastics industry position that the chemical was safe, despite studies on laboratory animals that showed the chemical, also referred to as BPA, could disrupt the normal activity of hormones. So-called endocrine disruptors can have a range of effects on the body, because at minute levels they can disrupt the chemical messenging system that regulates the reproductive, developmental and other systems of the body.
For years, consumer advocates, environmentalists and a few concerned citizens have done all they can to tell the public that many products, including plastic baby bottles, might be harming their children, born and unborn.
Then in April, the National Toxicology Program in April became the first federal agency to raise concerns about the safety of the ubiquitous chemical, when it said there was "some concern" BPA might affect the neural and behavioral development of fetuses, infants and children at levels people are currently exposed to, and that the health implications could be wide-ranging, from damaging the prostate gland and the breasts, to possibly causing early-onset puberty in girls.
Late on Friday, the FDA announced that a subcommittee of its Science Board would review the safety of Bisphenol A and report back before the end of the year on its findings.
There are three reasons to think that there's less going on than the normal functioning of a bureaucracy though. ...