BPA and low birth weight babies

Again with the BPA – why is this stuff still around? Now researchers have found a link between pregnancy exposure and low birth weight, this is in women who had work place exposure to the nasty chemical.

The study can be found in Reproductive Toxicology. The low birth weight ranked in this order: lowest birth weight came to babies whose mothers had high exposure in the work place, then the next level went to mothers who had low level exposure to BPA, the third category was to babies whose fathers had high occupational exposure rubbing off on the mother and finally the least difference in birth weight went to babies whose mothers had BPA exposure through the father’s low occupational exposure. Exposure to a pregnant woman here comes from contaminated clothing from the fathers, perhaps workplace visits or a home close to work where BPA levels are high.

I think the news here is that BPA is bad and one way or another goes through the pregnant mom to hurt the baby. The same results have been found in animal studies; this is the first human study. More studies will be done to confirm the results.

As a reminder BPA is a chemical which is used in the production of polycarbonated plastics and epoxy resins. It is found in baby bottles, plastic containers, linings of cans and dental sealants. It is being banned more and more often because of the scary associations with birth disorders and fertility dysfunction.

Source: Reproductive Toxicology, ScienceDaily