BPA link to heart disease and diabetes ‘only statistical’

This is according to the British Plastics Federation, which was responding to work carried out by a team of researchers from four UK and US universities.

The BPF - and Europe-wide trade body, PlasticsEurope - pointed out that report’s own authors state that their study does not demonstrate that humans are experiencing adverse health affects on exposure to low doses of BPA.

Researchers from the University of Exeter, Peninsula Medical School, the University of Plymouth and the University of Iowa worked on the project.

They analysed information from the US government’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004. This is the only large scale data available on BPA concentrations excreted in urine.

The team analysed results from 1455 adults aged between 18 and 74 years old. It found that the 25% of the population with the highest BPA levels were more than twice as likely to have heart disease and/or diabetes.

The higher BPA levels were also associated with clinically abnormal liver enzyme concentrations.

The BPF and the report’s authors both pointed out that the link was only a statistical one and more research was needed.

David Melzer, Professor of epidemiology and public health at the Peninsula Medical School (Exeter, UK), who led the team said: “At the moment we can’t be absolutely sure that BPA is the direct cause of the extra cases of heart disease and diabetes: if it is, some cases of these serious conditions could be prevented by reducing BPA exposure.

“This is therefore an exciting finding, but it is also just the first step in understanding the role of BPA.”

The BPF said in a statement: “As one of the most widely studied compounds in the world, extensive safety research has been conducted over the past four decades providing a large database of toxicological and exposure data available to assess human health concerns.”

European plastics trade body, PlasticsEurope, said: “While properly designed and executed statistical studies on BPA and other compounds can bring valuable new insights with respect to human health, sometimes they do not, and sometimes they merely claim ‘false associations’ that add little to and even confuse the body of science.

“We are confident that the authors’ own admonitions about the limitations of this single study will be respected.”

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