The Knights Who Say NIH

Health agency reviews bisphenol A safety as controversy swirls

Ignoring the news about bisphenol A? Time to pay attention, cuz the plastic resin is used in everyday products from baby bottles to canned goods and linked to a host of health problems. And with the National Institutes of Health reviewing the safety of BPA this week, a maelstrom is brewing: a major player in the NIH study, Sciences International, is a consultant that has counted BPA makers including Dow Chemical among its clients. The firm issued a report for NIH that some scientists say embraces the industry view that low doses of BPA have no health effects. Of course, that whole "low-dose" thing may be moot: a new study from the Environmental Working Group found levels of BPA in some canned foods as high as 200 times the acceptable level. "This is one of the highest-volume produced chemicals in the world," says Fredrick vom Saal, a Missouri biology professor and BPA researcher. "It's in everybody's bodies, and it's a very potent sex hormone. It's just nuts that it's being used the way it is."