Potential danger in plastic food packaging

Related tags Bpa Bisphenol a

A chemical commonly found in plastic food containers has been
proven to harm the development of mouse eggs, according to a new
study from the US which is now fuelling debates over packaging
safety.

A chemical commonly found in plastic food containers has been proven to harm the development of mouse eggs, according to a new study from the US which is now fuelling debates over packaging safety.

The compound bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the production of transparent plastic bottles and for lining tin cans, reported www.nature.com​ this week. Its chemical activity is said to mimic that of the female hormone oestrogen, which leads some scientists to believe that it may cause damage to an unborn baby's growing sex organs.

The latest study has been headed up by scientist Patricia Hunt at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US. Hunt's team discovered unusual genetic defects in the eggs of laboratory mice. She traced it to their hard plastic cages, which were apparently emitting small amounts of BPA, reported nature.com.

Hunt's team claims that its research so far has shown that even the very smallest traces - 20 parts per billion in drinking water - can alter 8 per cent of eggs. Under normal circumstances only 1 per cent of eggs are usually defective. Humans are exposed to similar BPA levels, Hunt said. Although it is not known if the chemical has a similar effect on human embryos, Hunt's team believes there could be a strong correlation, as previous experiments have shown that humans have similar reproductive patterns to that of mice.

In theory, such genetic flaws could cause a higher incidence of miscarriage or of conditions such as Down's syndrome. "You're talking about transmitting profound chromosomal damage to your baby,"​ PBA researcher Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia told nature.com.

The response from the plastics and packaging industry to the findings has been largely muted, although many believe that more scientific evidence is required before any definite conclusions can be drawn. Steve Hentges of the American Plastics Council in Arlington, Virginia, counters that it is too early to condemn BPA - because the team have yet to show whether the genetic changes actually affect the mice's ability to reproduce. "We don't know how to interpret this yet,"​ he argued.

Earlier investigations hinted that exposing animals in the womb to levels of BPA similar to those found in the environment can have an ill-effect on their sperm count, prostate and testicular development. However, other studies - some commissioned by the plastics industry - have found BPA to be completely safe.

On the other hand Hunt and her team have gone a step further in showing that BPA might also harm an egg's DNA; this damage might be inherited by offspring formed from those eggs. She finds that BPA stops chromosomes from dividing up equally before egg cells divide, possibly by interfering with oestrogen's normal activity, nature.com reported.

At the present moment Hunt, vom Saal and others would like to see BPA regulations tightened. Some regulatory bodies are already reviewing the allowable levels: a European Commission's food-safety committee​, for example, last year cut back its upper limit for daily intake by fivefold.

Currently the US Food and Drug Administration does not have a safety limit for BPA on foodstuffs. "We don't have any reason to believe there's any effect,"​ argued the administration's George Pauli, who is involved in regulating the safety of plastics in food packaging. But the agency keeps tabs on new research, he added.

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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