New Bisphenol A Study Is of Very Limited Relevance to Human Health

PRNewswire: "The following statement can be attributed to Steven G. Hentges, Ph.D. of the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group. Dr. Hentges' comments are in regard to a study from researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The study, 'Neonatal bisphenol A exposure alters rat reproductive development and ovarian morphology without impairing activation of gonadotropin releasing hormone neurons,' was funded by NIEHS and published online June 17 by the journal Biology of Reproduction. The study was co-authored by Heather B. Patisaul and Heather B. Adewale of NCSU and Wendy N. Jefferson and Retha R. Newbold of NIEHS."

"It is a continuing disappointment to see that researchers -- including scientists from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) -- conduct studies that involve injection of laboratory animals with bisphenol A (BPA). This experimental technique has recently been acknowledged by the NIEHS to have very limited value for assessing human health effects since people are orally exposed to BPA, not by injection. It is well-known that BPA is efficiently metabolized and rapidly eliminated from the body after oral exposure.

"The researchers also state, incorrectly, that their study is significant because it used a dose equal to the EPA reference dose for BPA, which is a science-based lifetime daily intake level determined to be safe by EPA. However, the EPA reference dose is specifically applicable only to oral exposure, not to injection exposure. Consequently, this study does not call into question the validity of the EPA reference dose.

"Although the researchers correctly note that 'the research was done on rats, making it difficult to determine its applicability to humans...', the study is of very limited relevance to human health, according to the NIEHS guidelines, due to these inherent study design flaws.