New Study: BPAs in Plastics Linked to Heart Disease and Diabetes

Well, if you're tracking this BPA chemical, seems there's a new study out weekly, each contradicting the one before it. Just last month the FDA came out and said that tests on rats and mice pointed to BPA being a safe chemical, at a certain level, inside the human body. Good thing for that report, since a report out by the CDC said that 93% of Americans have this chemical in their urine when tested. But now here's a study posted in the very respected JAMA journal, saying that the individuals with the highest levels of BPAs in the body also have twice the rate of heart disease and diabetes! That's what I call statistically significant.

Industry spokespeople say that there is no other chemical that behaves as conveniently as BPAs, so we can have plastic bottles, can linings that extend food shelf life, and all the other products we've become so accustomed to. They also say that a rush to replace BPAs with yet another unknown chemical, could be doing more harm than good. I actually agree with them on that one. Why is it that us customers are always the guinea pigs on this stuff? Why don't we feed these chemicals to the Board of Directors of these companies for about 10 years, and then check back with them on safety? That would prove very instructional I think? In any event, let's just get off of plastics to the best of our ability. Large retailers, while not shipping the plastic out to the trash, are starting to ban products containing BPAs. When you have powerhouses like Target, WalMart, Toys R Us, and others just saying "no" to BPAs, that's going to force the industry to shift gears. Let's just hope we don't get something worse.

Whenever I can choose not to get my food or water or beverage in a plastic container, I do. There are so many other great choices. As for the extending the food shelf life issue...if we can get to fresh food, that's going to benefit us more than the year-old veggies in a can, lined with BPAs. While the FDA is taking shots at this new study, the study author clearly points out that it is already established fact that BPAs suppress a key hormone in the human body that protects against heart disease and diabetes. So, while this is just the latest study, the evidence sure is mounting against this chemical.