Research news: Study links levels of BPA, health concerns

The News:
Study links levels of BPA, health concerns
But many insist chemical is safe in trace amounts
By Lindsey Layton The Washington Post
Article Last Updated: 09/17/2008 01:22:14 AM MDT
WASHINGTON — The first large study in humans of a chemical widely used in everyday plastics has found that people with higher levels of bisphenol A had higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities, a finding that immediately became the focus of the increasingly heated debate over the safety of the chemical.
The research, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a team of British and American scientists, compared the health status of 1,455 men and women with the levels of the chemical, known as BPA, in their urine.
The researchers divided the subjects into four statistical groupings according to their BPA levels and found that those in the quartile with the highest concentrations were nearly three times as likely to have cardiovascular disease than those with the lowest levels, and 2.4 times as likely to have diabetes. Higher BPA levels were also associated with abnormal concentrations of three liver enzymes.
Although the researchers described them as preliminary, the findings were the buzz of a public hearing the Food and Drug Administration held in Rockville, Md., Tuesday to discuss whether BPA is safe for continued use in food packaging and liquid containers. Read on...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association.