Elevated amount of BPA can increase cardiac risk by 45%, study finds - The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail: "While the new study found an association between higher-than-average BPA levels and heart disease, Dr. Melzer cautioned that the research, published in the open-access journal PLoS One, doesn’t prove the chemical causes heart-related ailments.

Such definitive proof would require dosing humans in clinical trials to observe heart-disease rates, something that wouldn’t be allowed for ethical reasons. While BPA may be an additional risk factor for heart problems, Dr. Melzer recommended that people continue to be mindful of more proven steps to reduce risks, such as quitting smoking and monitoring cholesterol.

In the study, researchers compared reports of cardiovascular disease among about 1,500 people who participated during 2005 and 2006 in the most recent BPA biomonitoring survey funded by the U.S. government. The United States is the only country to have conducted and released results of its two population-based surveys for BPA. The newest survey found average levels of the chemical at 3.3 parts per billion, a drop of about 30 per cent from the only previous monitoring, done in 2003 to 2004.

It is not known why BPA levels fell over the period, but Dr. Melzer speculated it might be due to worried manufacturers removing the chemical from some uses that contact food."