Panel finds only some bisphenol A risks

A government-convened expert panel has expressed "some concern" that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), the monomer used to make polycarbonate plastic and some resins, causes neural and behavioral defects in infants and children. Two years ago, the National Toxicology Program's (NTP) Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction chose BPA as a substance to evaluate because it is a synthetic estrogen, 95% of Americans are exposed to it, and it is a high-production-volume chemical. The panel reported its findings last week in terms of three levels of concern: some, minimal, and negligible. It expressed "minimal" concern that BPA exposure adversely affects the prostate or accelerates puberty, and "negligible" concern that BPA causes birth defects and malformations. Most of the panel's findings directly contradict a consensus statement by 38 leading BPA researchers published two weeks ago in Reproductive Toxicology that was concerned about the compound's health impacts (C&EN, Aug. 6, page 8). NTP will conclude its review of BPA in the next year or two, after it prepares a final brief on the chemical and sends the document out for peer review and public comment.