14 DAY TRIAL // Exposing the fetus to bisphenol A during pregnancy may be linked to a host of behavioral problems in girls, a group of investigators from the Harvard University School of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate.
The team says that the same type of connection was not discovered in boys, which is very weird. Future studies will undoubtedly be focused on discovering the mechanisms that protect the latter from being affected by the common compound.
BPA can be found in most plastic products, which are themselves derived from crude oil. Many experts have drawn attention to the perils these compounds carries, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to claim that no evidence exist to warrant a ban on the substance.
In the mean time, a potentially-unsafe chemical can be found in anything from clothes to water bottles and dental healthcare products. Under such circumstances, it stands to reason that expecting mothers even unwillingly expose their children to the chemical on a daily basis.
In the new research, the Harvard/CDC team analyzed urine samples from 244 expecting mothers at various stages of their pregnancies. They kept accurate tracks of BPA levels, and then followed the children up for several years after birth.
As soon as the children reached the age of 3, the mothers were asked to fill up two questionnaires, meant to asses behavioral and emotional problems in the kids. An emphasis was placed on symptoms related to depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Mothers who were determined to display high BPA levels during pregnancy were found to be more likely to report anxious and depressed behaviors in their daughters. Poorer emotional control and inhibition were also often reports, My Health News Daily reports.
In the new study, the team could not establish any statistically-significant correlation between mothers' high BPA levels and similar symptoms in boys. Similarly, BPA exposure after birth was not found to have the same effect.
“Women with higher BPA levels during pregnancy – their children had higher scores in these surveys. Typically, girls had more behavior problems,” explains Harvard research fellow and study coauthor Joe Braun.
“We certainly can't determine what it is doing in this study, but we have a couple of guesses. [Gender hormones] are important in brain development. BPA is an endocrine-disrupting compound. It may act like an estrogen, or an anti-estrogen,” the expert concludes.