"BPA Found in 90% of Newborns"

"A study released Wednesday which found that nine of 10 babies tested were born with bisphenol A in their systems has renewed calls for the chemical to be banned.

In the study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group, scientists found the chemical in nine of 10 randomly selected samples of umbilical cord blood.

Previous studies have found BPA in the urine of 93% of Americans tested. But Wednesday's study is the first to find it in the cord blood of U.S. newborns.

'It's alarming,' Janet Gray, director of the Environmental Risks and Breast Cancer project at Vassar College, said of the study results. 'What more evidence do we need to act?'

More than 6 billion pounds of BPA are used each year to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. The chemical is used in thousands of common products, including the lining of nearly all food and beverage cans and as coating for carbonless paper receipts.

BPA, which was developed as a synthetic estrogen, has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, cognitive and behavioral problems, reproductive failures, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and obesity."

Meg Kissinger reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel December 3, 2009.