WIKIMEDIA, HTEINK.MINBisphenol A, as it is used now in consumer products, is safe, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week (February 23) in a statement. The conclusion is based on a pre-peer review draft report describing experiments showing “minimal effects” on rats exposed to different doses of the compound, commonly called BPA. But the announcement has drawn criticism.
“It was disappointing to me to read that [statement],” Gail Prins, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, tells Newsweek. “I’m not saying what they did was bad work. [The results] are valid, but they are not complete.”
The study, conducted by the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), is one part of CLARITY-BPA, the Consortium Linking Academic and Regulatory Insights on BPA Toxicity. The other component includes ongoing studies at academic institutions using offspring of rats derived from the core study. Together, the experiments aim to investigate the full range of health effects BPA could have on humans. Prins is running one of the institution-based experiments, looking for a connection between the compound and prostate cancer.
“It is premature to draw ...
