For an excellent book on the topic, see Theo Colburns "Our Stolen Future :
Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?-A Scientific
Detective Story". If I remember correctly, she mentions VomSaal's work
several times. Check out the book on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452274141/qid=942779736/sr=1-1/102-8
160959-1655255
Kevin
Kevin Webb
Food Circles Networking Project
Department of Rural Sociology
University of Missouri-Columbia
105 Sociology
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-3776
[573] 882=1473 (fax)
webbk@missouri.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Kelly, Debi [mailto:KellyD@umsystem.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 12:40 PM
To: 'sanet'
Subject: FW: plastics in our environment
Thought some of you out there in sanet-land might like to read this. debi
kelly, MAC
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hemmelgarn, Melinda
> Sent: Monday, November 15, 1999 6:17 PM
> To: UM UOE Nutrition
> Subject: plastics in our environment
>
> Nutrition Specialists: a VERY hot topic. This is from the MU news bureau;
> VomSaal will be speaking on Dec. 2nd on the Columbia campus; 4:00-5:00 in
> Gwynn Hall in case you are interested in attending.
> Melinda.
> --------------------------------------------------
> October 20, 1999
>
> Contact: Christian Basi
> Interim Assistant Director for News
> (573) 882-4430
> BasiC@missouri.edu
>
> PLASTIC CHEMICALS COULD BE CAUSE OF REPRODUCTIVE, WEIGHT PROBLEMS, MU
> RESEARCHERS SAY
>
> COLUMBIA, Mo. - Over the past decades, researchers have reported a
> dramatic increase in the number of overweight Americans, reproductive
> deformities and the number of youth reaching puberty at early ages. In the
> past, these findings have been attributed to nutrition, lifestyle and
> genetics. However, in an article to be published in Nature this week, a
> team of researchers from the University of Missouri-Columbia and North
> Carolina State University report that a chemical estrogen that is used to
> make plastics could be a contributing factor.
> The researchers, Kembra Howdeshell, an MU doctoral candidate; and
> Frederick vom Saal, MU professor of biological sciences; exposed mice to
> bisphenol A (BPA), similar to levels at which humans are routinely
> exposed. BPA is a compound that was originally made as a chemical
> estrogen, but that is now used as a "building block" for the production of
> polycarbonate plastic products such as baby bottles, tin can linings,
> certain toys and certain types of food storage containers. What resulted
> were findings that included an earlier onset of puberty and an increase in
> body weight after birth. Howdeshell and vom Saal also found that mice with
> more natural estrogen in them were much more sensitive to the chemical
> than those with low levels of natural estrogen.
> "People sometimes get confused if 100 percent of the population doesn't
> exhibit the exact same symptoms to a chemical, but there are varying
> effects in the animal as well as human population," Howdeshell said.
> "That's to be expected, but there is no way to predict natural levels of
> estrogens in humans without doing several series of invasive tests. The
> whole idea of government regulation is to protect the most sensitive
> subpopulation, which our findings identify as having the highest levels of
> natural estrogen."
> The study was conducted by exposing mice to BPA while still in the womb.
> Exposure was done just during pregnancy, not
> after birth. However, the study concluded that exposure to the chemical
> while still in the womb programs post-natal growth. On
> average, Howdeshell and vom Saal found that mice exposed to BPA weighed 20
> percent more than normal when examined at
> puberty. The research was conducted over a period of one year and was
> funded
> by a $500,000 grant from the National
> Institutes of Health.
> "We found that the largest effects happened to the babies of the pregnant
> mother," Howdeshell said. "The chemical did not affect the mother, but
> instead it altered the babies' growth patterns and accelerated timing of
> sexual maturity. Our study shows that this chemical may be a factor for
> contributing to trends seen in human populations over the past several
> decades."
> The researchers' findings indicated that more work is needed to discover
> the exact effects of BPA on humans. However, in previous research, when
> both humans and mice were exposed to the same relative dose of chemical
> estrogens, the effects were nearly identical. Both experienced similar
> types of abnormalities of the reproductive system. This points to the need
> for research on humans.
> "We're not offering an answer concerning effects in humans with these
> findings; instead, the findings pose a question regarding human health,"
> vom Saal said. "This study should serve as a guide for human research. We
> believe that the medical community should take a long look at this study
> and consider looking at BPA as a possible cause for the changes in growth,
> sexual maturation and reproductive abnormalities that have been reported
> in the humans in the past decades."
> Vom Saal also has pointed out that food containers are not the only source
> of exposure to this chemical. BPA also is used to make computers, toys and
> other household items. Products made with BPA have been claimed to be
> nondegradable.
> However, at the Estrogens in the Environment conference in New Orleans
> Oct. 18-21, Howdeshell and vom Saal are presenting evidence from another
> study showing that BPA leaches out into the environment from plastic
> products with repeated use.
> * 30-
>
> EDITOR'S NOTE: Vom Saal has just been named a fellow of the American
> Association for the Advancement of Science. Each year since 1874, the AAAS
> Council elects members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of
> science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.
> Vom Saal is being honored for his work involving the effects of natural
> hormones and these endocrine disrupting chemicals on fetuses.
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