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Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times
Posted: November 16th, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08kristof.html
Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. Its a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastics to epoxies to the tune of six pounds per American per year. More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it ... to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike. Now it turns out its in our food. Consumer Reports magazine tested an array of brand-name canned foods for a report in its December issue and found BPA in almost all of them. The magazine says that relatively high levels turned up, for example, in Progresso vegetable soup, Campbells condensed chicken noodle soup, and Del Monte Blue Lake cut green beans. The magazine also says it found BPA in the canned liquid version of Similac Advance infant formula ... and in canned Nestl Juicy Juice. The BPA in the food probably came from an interior coating used in many cans. More than 200 other studies have shown links between low doses of BPA and adverse health effects, according to the Breast Cancer Fund, which is trying to ban the chemical from food and beverage containers. The vast majority of independent scientists those not working for industry are concerned about early-life low-dose exposures to BPA, said Janet Gray, a Vassar College professor who is science adviser to the Breast Cancer Fund.
Note: For more on BPA and other health issues, click here.
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