'BPA-Free'?
Uh, Not Really. . .
Many consumers have taken steps to curb their use of products containing the
chemical bisphenol A, or BPA. Thanks to this newsletter and other voices, folks
are learning that BPA poses health risks that far outweigh its benefits. This
toxic substance is commonly used in all things plastic including baby bottles,
plastic food storage containers and nearly all drink containers — soda, water,
juice, you name it.
But if you've switched to "BPA-free" products,
watch out! It turns out the plastic industry has merely substituted another
dangerous chemical. Keep reading and I'll explain. . .
Long-term exposure to BPA has been linked to a number of serious health
concerns, including:
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Impaired learning and memory
- Low sperm count
- Obesity
BPA in your body becomes a type of fake
estrogen that can lead to hormonal imbalances. For additional details, see our
reports in
Issue
#17 and
Issue
#196. Canada has totally banned BPA — that should give you a hint of how
serious this is.
With the discovery of the long-term health-damaging
effects of BPA exposure, many manufacturers responded to public concerns by
removing the chemical from their products.
But this was nothing more
than a magician's sleight of hand!
What they didn't tell us about
items sporting the "BPA free" label is that they now contain BPA's ugly cousin
bisphenol S (BPS)—a chemical that may be even MORE toxic and dangerous to your
health!
Kurunthachalam Kannan, a research scientist at the New York
State Department of Health in Albany, led a team investigating the prevalence of
BPS in the environment.
The investigators were surprised to find that
your skin appears to absorb up to 19 times
more BPS than its predecessor
BPA.
And here's one reason why your likelihood of coming in contact
with the chemical is extremely high:
BPS is used on most of the paper receipts and
paper
currency you handle for every purchase you make!
What does 'most' mean? Well Kannan's research
team tested 16 types of paper from the U.S., Japan, Korea and
Vietnam.
They found a whopping 87 percent of paper currency and 52
percent of recycled paper contained BPS.
What's more, Kannan's group
also found that 81 percent of 315 urine samples taken from men and women in the
United States and seven Asian countries contained BPS. Japan had the highest
average concentrations followed by the U.S.
The hidden dangers of a hormone
imbalance
Have you ever noticed that some middle aged
men seem to carry a spare tire around their middle? And that some even have 'man
boobs' where their chest muscles used to be?
Chalk it up to estrogen
overload!
As men get older, they produce less testosterone, which can
lead to a buildup of estrogen. If you're a man with rising estrogen levels—be
aware that it can increase your risk of experiencing prostate problems, heart
trouble and other serious health concerns.
In women, excess estrogen
causes fluid retention... hot flashes... night sweats... increased blood fat
levels... and mood swings...
Many women also complain about dry skin
and dry eyes—and even an uncomfortable vaginal dryness that can make sexual
relations painful.
In 2002, government scientists abruptly ended a
large study of a type of a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that made use of
estrogen and progestin.
The investigators determined that this
treatment, prescribed to relieve the symptoms of menopause, significantly
increased the risk of breast cancer, heart disease and
strokes.
Unfortunately, this news came some 50 years after countless
HRT prescriptions had been doled out to unsuspecting women. Thousands of women
promptly stopped hormone replace therapy — and the rate of breast cancer in the
United States plunged!
In other words, this commonly prescribed
medical treatment was responsible for thousands of cases of breast cancer. But
this gets worse. The evidence strongly indicates the real problem was that
mainstream doctors used estrogen from horses, not human estrogen. (The
HRT drug was called Premarin, extracted from mares' urine.)
HRT that
uses human estrogen is called bioidentical hormone therapy. Knowledgeable
authorities say this type of HRT is safe, although the medical establishment
insists the use of horse estrogen had nothing to do with the link to breast
cancer.
I bring it up because BPA and BPS chemically mess with the
hormone levels in both men and women. The famous HRT scandal points up how even
small deviations from natural human estrogen can have disastrous consequences.
Is there a BPS/cancer
connection?
The research on health effects of BPS is
still in its infant stages. But what scientists do know is that BPS has a
similar chemical structure to BPA. This means that, like BPA, BPS is likely to
be tied to abnormal cell growth leading to cancer.
In a study
published in the International Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chinese
researchers compared levels of BPA in about 500 adults to the rates of the brain
cancer meningioma.
They found that adults with higher levels of BPA
in their urine had a greater likelihood of developing that form of cancer than
did folks with lower levels. This was true even after the researchers considered
other factors such as family history and whether the person had received hormone
replacement therapy.
In another study, University of Cincinnati
scientists exposed human breast cancer cells to low levels of BPA. The group was
surprised to find that BPA encouraged the production of proteins that prevent
cancer cells from being killed by chemotherapy drugs.
So according to
study results, not only does BPA contribute to cancer formation—it also
neutralizes one of mainstream medicines favored treatment options!
So
what's a consumer to do? Well, clearly you can't change the BPS levels in the
products themselves. But you can minimize your exposure by opting for glass
beverage and food containers versus plastic.
And you can avoid
microwaving foods in plastic containers to avoid leaching the chemicals into
your meal.
Also, try to wash your hands after handling receipts,
money and other paper products that may be coated with BPS chemicals. As
mentioned before, it appears these chemicals can be absorbed through the
skin.
These simple steps could decrease your exposure to this
dangerous copycat chemical that may prove to be a serious health threat.
