Canada survey finds vast majority of people loaded with BPA

Saturday, August 21, 2010 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Canada, BPA, health news

(NaturalNews) A recent report released by Statistics Canada, Canada's official statistical agency, has revealed that more than 90 percent of Canadians are contaminated with bisphenol-A (BPA), a toxic chemical compound used in many plastics and resins. The report is the first of its kind in Canada to verify the extent to which BPA has invaded the bodies of the population at large.

"[F]or the very first time [we] have baseline information against which we can study trends and track what is happening with respect to bisphenol A exposure," explained Tracey Bushnik from Statscan's Health Analysis Division in a Reuters article.

In 2008, Canada banned BPA from baby bottles, but the chemical is still widely used both there and around the world in can liners and other plastic materials used in various consumer products.

The report data reveals that the average concentration of BPA in Canadians is about 1.16 micrograms per liter in urine, and that teenagers generally have the highest concentrations overall. Younger children between the ages of six and eleven also generally had higher levels than adults over the age of 40.

Those seeking to ban BPA from all consumer products cite recent studies which illustrate that exposure to BPA, especially during early childhood development, can disrupt proper neural development. Other similar studies link the chemical to a host of diseases including cancer and heart disease as well.

"BPA, a chemical found in epoxy resin and polycarbonate plastics, may impair the reproductive organs and have adverse effects on tumors, breast tissue development, and prostate development by reducing sperm count," explains C.W. Randolph, M.D., in his book From Belly Fat to Belly FLAT: How Your Hormones Are Adding Inches to Your Waistline and Subtracting Years from Your Life.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67F4NW...

http://www.naturalpedia.com/Bisphenol-A.html