The August 2014 issue of the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives features a news article by contributor Julia Barrett discussing a recent scientific review on reproductive health effects of bisphenol A (BPA) published in the same issue (Peretz et al. 2014, previously reported on by the FPF). In the article, Barrett points out that recent investigations suggest that in some cases BPA may have an equal potency as natural estrogen. BPA “probably has different mechanisms of action, in different tissues, in different species, at different doses, and at different developmental windows of exposure” making it difficult to study, states Jodi Anne Flaws, co-author of the study and scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, U.S.. Nevertheless, the researchers conclude that there is strong evidence that BPA is an ovarian toxicant in both animals and humans, and a uterine and prostate toxicant in animals. Johanna Rochester, research associate at the Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX), considers the study a systematic review of in vivo, in vitro and human studies but suggests placing more emphasis on the weighing of study design and study execution in future scientific reviews of similar kind.
References
Barrett, J. (2014). “BPA and Reproductive Health.” Environmental Health Perspectives 122, A223.
Peretz, J. et al. (2014). “Bisphenol A and Reproductive Health: Update of Experimental and Human Evidence, 2007–2013.” Environmental Health Perspectives 122 (8):775–786.
