14 DAY TRIAL // The oil-derived chemical compound bisphenol A (BPA) is coming under increasingly fervent attack from everyone in the United States except health authorities. In yet another study to show the harmful effects of this substance, researchers determined that it reduce the quality of the female ovum.
This is the first time ever that a scientific study managed to identify such a correlation between the chemical and the body. The small-scale investigation was conducted by experts at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF),
At this point, these conclusions only apply to eggs that are retrieved from women seeking reproductive assistance at specialized clinics, through in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
In the new experiments, the UCSF team determined that doubling the amount of BPA in the blood of women lead to a proportional decrease in ova quality of 50 percent, Science Blog reports.
The real worrying aspect of all this is that the compound can be found in a large array of household plastic items, such as reusable water and baby bottles, plastic packaging and containers and so on.
BPA is used because it gives plastic a hard and clear look. This also makes it suitable for uses as a protective lining inside metal food cons, as well as inside beverage cans.
“While preliminary, the data indicate the negative effect of BPA on reproductive health and the importance of allocating more funding to further investigate why such environmental contaminants might be disrupting fertility potential,” Victor Y. Fujimoto, MD, explains.
The expert holds an appointment as a professor with the UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences. Fujimoto is also on the faculty of the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health.
The researcher is the lead author of a new study detailing the findings, which has been published in the latest online issue of the scientific journal Fertility and Sterility.
“Given the widespread nature of BPA exposure in the US, even a modest effect on reproduction is of substantial concern,” adds senior author Michael S. Bloom, PhD.
He is an assistant professor in the departments of Environmental Health Sciences, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health of the University at Albany, State University of New York.
According to official statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BPA was discovered on the urine of nearly all US citizens tested in a 2004 analysis.
In spite of the large number of studies showing the harsh nature of the chemical, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seems unwilling to reconsider its position that the chemical is harmless.