Agency Affirms Plastics' Safety, as Study Raises Questions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Tuesday defended their assessment that a chemical widely used in plastic baby bottles and in food packaging is safe, even as a preliminary study reported that it was associated with increased risks for heart disease and diabetes.

 “A margin of safety exists that is adequate to protect consumers, including infants and children, at the current levels of exposure,” Laura Tarantino, a senior Food and Drug Administration scientist, told an expert panel that has been asked for a second opinion on the agency’s assessment of bisphenol A, or BPA.

The new study, released Tuesday by The Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on a survey of nearly 1,500 adults. It found that those with higher levels of BPA in their urine were also more likely to report that they also had heart disease or diabetes. But the investigators wrote that their approach “may have resulted in false-positive associations” and urge that the study be independently replicated.

Two Dartmouth College analysts of medical research said the study, which does not prove that BPA caused the health problems, raised questions but provided no answers about whether the ubiquitous chemical is harmful.

Dr. Lisa Schwartz and Dr. Steven Woloshin of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice said the study presented no clear information about what might have caused participants’ heart disease and diabetes. The study did not look at exposure to BPA, but only at levels measured in a single urine test. “Measuring who has disease and high BPA levels at a single point in time cannot tell you which comes first,” Dr. Schwartz said.

Source: The Associated Press