FDA Issues Warning About BPA Exposure
The Food and Drug Administration is encouraging families to limit their children's exposure to a chemical found in thousands of household products.
CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports that, for years, concerned mothers, environmental groups and some scientists have been warning that Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, is unsafe, and can lead to cancers, diabetes and other diseases.
Now, in a shift in the agency's position, the FDA is saying the chemical is of "some concern." However, as CBS News found out, limiting your exposure to it isn't easy.
The FDA announced, on the basis of new studies that can test for "subtle effects" that, while BPA is still considered safe, it now has "some concern" about the potential effects of the chemical - especially on the "brain behavior and prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young children."
The American Chemistry Council, a product advocacy group, says BPA is safe.
The council's Lisa Harrison told CBS News, "What's important to remember is the FDA indicated that the BPA has not been proven harmful to children or adults. And that if they believed it was unsafe, they would've issued stronger regulations."
In a non-scientific "Early Show" experiment, Wallace ate a sandwich made from canned tuna, which consumer groups have found to contain BPA. Shortly afterwards, she had her blood drawn. For the next two days, Wallace tried to live a BPA-free life, during which she tried to avoid all foods in cans or plastic containers.
Then she had her blood drawn again. Her serum samples were shipped to the lab of University of Missouri professor Fred Vom Saal.
Vom Saal told Wallace, "The first set of blood that you gave us had high levels of Bisphenol A in it. It's over five times higher than what we find on average in women in the United States."
However, after her BPA-free diet, Vom Saal said her levels were much lower than average.
Wallace asked, "How convinced are you that elevated levels of BPA in people's bodies can lead to cancers, heart disease, obesity and early puberty?"
He replied, "I and other colleagues of mine at an NIH (National Institutes of Health) meeting said, with a very high level of confidence, we think Bisphenol A is a threat to human health."
Wallace added on "The Early Show" it's hard to avoid BPA because, currently, manufacturers aren't required to label products containing the chemical.
However, you can reduce your BPA intake, Wallace said, by limiting your use of canned food. Also, baby bottle manufacturers only make bottles that are BPA-free. In addition, if plastic containers have the number three or seven on the bottom, it means it does contain BPA. Some recycled pizza boxes, also, contain BPA.
But Wallace said you can still enjoy your pizza: "Everything is relative if eaten in moderation."
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports that, for years, concerned mothers, environmental groups and some scientists have been warning that Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, is unsafe, and can lead to cancers, diabetes and other diseases.
Now, in a shift in the agency's position, the FDA is saying the chemical is of "some concern." However, as CBS News found out, limiting your exposure to it isn't easy.
The FDA announced, on the basis of new studies that can test for "subtle effects" that, while BPA is still considered safe, it now has "some concern" about the potential effects of the chemical - especially on the "brain behavior and prostate glands in fetuses, infants and young children."
The American Chemistry Council, a product advocacy group, says BPA is safe.
The council's Lisa Harrison told CBS News, "What's important to remember is the FDA indicated that the BPA has not been proven harmful to children or adults. And that if they believed it was unsafe, they would've issued stronger regulations."
In a non-scientific "Early Show" experiment, Wallace ate a sandwich made from canned tuna, which consumer groups have found to contain BPA. Shortly afterwards, she had her blood drawn. For the next two days, Wallace tried to live a BPA-free life, during which she tried to avoid all foods in cans or plastic containers.
Then she had her blood drawn again. Her serum samples were shipped to the lab of University of Missouri professor Fred Vom Saal.
Vom Saal told Wallace, "The first set of blood that you gave us had high levels of Bisphenol A in it. It's over five times higher than what we find on average in women in the United States."
However, after her BPA-free diet, Vom Saal said her levels were much lower than average.
Wallace asked, "How convinced are you that elevated levels of BPA in people's bodies can lead to cancers, heart disease, obesity and early puberty?"
He replied, "I and other colleagues of mine at an NIH (National Institutes of Health) meeting said, with a very high level of confidence, we think Bisphenol A is a threat to human health."
Wallace added on "The Early Show" it's hard to avoid BPA because, currently, manufacturers aren't required to label products containing the chemical.
However, you can reduce your BPA intake, Wallace said, by limiting your use of canned food. Also, baby bottle manufacturers only make bottles that are BPA-free. In addition, if plastic containers have the number three or seven on the bottom, it means it does contain BPA. Some recycled pizza boxes, also, contain BPA.
But Wallace said you can still enjoy your pizza: "Everything is relative if eaten in moderation."
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"Japanese scientists, government and industry have all taken a notable interest in BPA exposure and reduction strategies. Due to consumer concern about the toxic effects of BPA, Japanese industries voluntarily reduced the use of BPA dramatically between 1998 and 2003."
"To do so they changed the inner surface of the cans from EXR coating to PET film lamination, or they used a EXR paint with much less BPA migration into food. Due to these BPA reduction and inactivation measures, the assessors noted that virtually no BPA is detected in canned foods and beverages now"
Since HFCS?s widespread introduction in the 1980?s, American obesity rates skyrocketed. The occurrence of new cases of type 2 diabetes has doubled over the past three decades (June 2006 American Heart Association's journal Circulation). The percentage of overweight children in the United States has tripled since 1980. Many people point the finger of blame at HFCS because it is in so many foods and beverages, and because the body must struggle to process it. The state of Florida even went so far as trying to ban HFCS from schools in 2006, but the legislation was never signed into law.
High fructose corn syrup is metabolized to fat far more rapidly than any other sugar. HFCS blunts the body's ability to recognize when it is full and increases a person's appetite. The temporary spike of HFCS blocks the action of insulin, which typically regulates how body cells use and store sugar and other food nutrients for energy. There is a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream that occurs after fructose is consumed. If uric acid levels are frequently elevated, over time features of metabolic syndrome may develop, including high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood cholesterol levels.
In animal studies, the Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis found that fructose consumption contributes to insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high blood pressure, and elevated levels of triglycerides. And although the data in humans is not quite as conclusive as the animal trials, the researchers report that a high intake of fructose may increase body weight and encourage insulin resistance, both of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
Researchers at Rutgers University discovered that beverages made with high fructose corn syrup contain high levels of reactive carbonyls, a free radical linked to tissue damage, the development of diabetes, and the occurrence of diabetes complications. A single can of soda contains about five times the concentration of reactive carbonyls than the concentration found in the blood of an adult person with diabetes.
HFCS also triggers the ?browning reaction? where certain carbohydrate molecules bind with proteins and cause aging. It's sometimes called the Maillard reaction. It changes the structure of enzymes and other proteins, resulting in tissue and organ damage.
As consumers learn more about HFCS, they don't want it. A 2007 International Food Information Council Foundation study found that 60 percent of American consumers said they were trying to consume less high fructose corn syrup.
In January of 2009, consumers learned of another reason to avoid it - mercury. The scientific journal, Environmental Health, reported that nearly 50 percent of the commercial HFCS tested contained mercury, a neurotoxin.
In 2009, researchers went looking for what has killed about one-third of the honey bees in the U.S. They looked at HFCS because it is fed to bees. They found that when HFCS is heated, it forms a toxin called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). It is toxic to bees, and, studies in Sweden have linked HMF to DNA damage in humans.17B In addition, HMF breaks down in the body to other substances ? daughter metabolites ? potentially more harmful than the original substance.
HFCS is not natural. It does not exist in nature, nor is it the fructose naturally found in fruits and honey. And the way it is used in so many products, most people far exceed moderate use. Due to federal agribusiness subsidies, every dollar of profits earned by Archer Daniels Midland - the largest producer of HFCS - costs consumers $10 by some estimates.
And, HFCS is made with genetically modified corn. In 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine called for a moratorium on GM food, and mandatory labeling of GM food. The group said, ?There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects.?
Nice try, Audrae Erickson, but we're not buying it.
High fructose corn syrup has a strong history as a not safe ingredient recognized by food manufacturers self testing and the U.S. government relies on their tests, not private testing. In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally listed HFCS as safe for use in food and reaffirmed that decision in 1996 while placing people from Monsanto's staff on the FDA chair.
High fructose corn syrup is not simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled not the same by the body. It turns on the Insulin Reaction.
The American Medical Association stated that, representing themselves only, and receiving lobby money, Because the composition of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are so dissimilar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears that high fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity and other conditions than sucrose.
Over time, and in large quantities, as if you could avoid consuming it, HFCS and other manipulated fructose sugars can undermine your metabolism, leading to weight gain, high triglyceride levels, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Research continues to show that consumption of these altered sugars is a growing health hazard ? at the same time food manufacturers make it increasingly hard to avoid them! Its cheap!
According to the American Dietetic Association, high fructose corn syrup?is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. How much money did they take? Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable. but the obesity isn't.
As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.SweetSurprise.com. High Fructose Corn Syrup - the REAL truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjppyTWuZJ0
Who is this guy? Does he use it? I think not. How much mercury is in it?
Not written by:
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
This story might be bad science but it's a hell of a coincidence.
The irony is that early exposure to BPA can plausibly result in increased male homosexual identity. The resistance by conservative Republicans to protect he environment and the public health and stop the Plastics Industry from polluting might have resulted in increased numbers of their worst nightmare, homosexual males.
Too late, too little..
Our food supplies have been contaminated for so long that it's no wonder we have as many health conditions running rampant.
Even the trusted Johnson & Johnson people are recalling products..
Contaminated pet food and toys from China, PCB's and arsenic in our water supplies, mercury in our fish, hormones and anti-biotics in our meats, insecticide and herbicide residues in our veggies, HFCS in almost all our foods.. It doesn't leave us much "wiggle room" to choose safe foods..
I guess I'll just dump a little more salt on my Fritos, and eat some more high cholesterol food. Maybe I'll get lucky and die of a heart attack.. Beats hell out of cancer or diabetes....
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled the same by the body.
The American Medical Association stated that, ?Because the composition of high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are so similar, particularly on absorption by the body, it appears unlikely that high fructose corn syrup contributes more to obesity or other conditions than sucrose.?
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/443/csaph3a08-summary.pdf
According to the American Dietetic Association, ?high fructose corn syrup?is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.?
As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.SweetSurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association