A 12-member NIH panel is linkurl:disagreeing;http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/watch/200708131.html#4 with a scientific consensus statement published this month about the health hazards of linkurl:bisphenol;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15654/ A, a common component of plastics. In the statement, in Reproductive Toxicology, 38 scientists warn that the product may cause serious human reproductive disorders. As linkurl:we reported;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/52888/ in February, researchers led by linkurl:Randy Jirtle;http://www.geneimprint.com/lab/ at Duke University exposed mouse mothers-to-be to bisphenol A, which has been banned from baby products in the UK. The research, linkurl:published;http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/104/32/13056?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=jirtle&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT in August 1 by PNAS, showed BPA exposure in the womb affects phenotype by altering the epigenome. (Interestingly, the group found the effects could be counteracted if the pregnant mother ate genistein, a phytoestrogen found in soy.) However, the NIH panel, set up by the National Institute of Health's Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, disagrees with the scientists' conclusions, and has concluded the health effects were "negligible. "...
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