Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Harvard: BPA and Nalgene Bottles

Globe and Mail
Harvard is in the news again, this time good news.

Some very brave students at Harvard risked their health for science! Although they were really doing what they have all been doing for sometime: drinking from Nalgene bottles, a sight not uncommon in gyms and sports events; these are unbreakable containers that has been a convenient alternative to metal and glass.

In The Boston Globe on May 22, 2009

Harvard study backs bottle concern
By Beth Daley
A Harvard study released on May 21 supports what many public health specialists have long assumed: Hard plastic drinking bottles containing bisphenol A are leaching notable amounts of the controversial chemical into people's bodies.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who drank for a week from the clear plastic polycarbonate bottles increased concentrations of bisphenol A - or BPA - in their urine by 69 percent.


The study is the first to definitively show that drinking from BPA bottles increases the levels of the chemical in urine, researchers said. It was published on the website of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
BPA is used in hundreds of everyday products. It is used to make reusable, hard plastic bottles more durable and to help prevent corrosion in canned goods such as soup and infant formula.


"If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher," said Karin B. Michels, senior author of the report and associate professor at the School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. "This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential," she said.


Canada banned the use of BPA in baby bottles in 2008, and Massachusetts health officials are now weighing whether to warn pregnant women and young children to avoid food, drinks, and other items containing the chemical.


Numerous animal studies in recent years suggest that low levels of BPA might cause developmental problems in fetuses and young children and other ill effects. The health effects on adults are not well understood although a recent large human study linked BPA concentrations in people's urine to an increased prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, and liver toxicity.

See also:Undergrads volunteer for Nalgene bottle BPA study
UK: BBC
Other Posts: To Ban Or Not To Ban: BPA

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