Self portraits

Self portraits

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Rant (Bisphenol A) and Some Pictures


"Truth", found objects, wire, 6x6x2", 2009




"Schmattes", acrylic on canvas, 8 x 16", 2008

"There is no there there." -- Gertrude Stein



Bisphenol A, or BPA, is an additive used in plastic, in our water bottles, baby bottles, and in many food containers. It mimics the hormone estrogen in the body. How is it that we allow a known endocrine disruptor into our food supply? And, how is it that we accept as normal having ubiquitous low-dose human exposure to a known carcinogen? Now I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I think I'm gonna have to put BPA on my 'Mother's Worry List'.
http://pamelagaard.blogspot.com/2010/05/mothers-worry-list.html

Research on laboratory animals shows that Bisphenol A is an estrogenic hormone disruptor that causes reproductive damage and that it may lead to prostate and breast cancer in adulthood. For that reason, it was banned in baby bottles in Canada nearly two years ago. But it's still legal in the US.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detected Bisphenol A in the urine of 57 - 93 percent of the 2,517 people aged 6 years and older who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003 - 2004.

And, in this other study*, data suggests that it is more of a concern for children, and notably, for children in lower-income households:
"Children had higher concentrations than adolescents (p < p =" 0.003)."> $45,000/year)."

The controversy now is whether exposure causes weight gain and if the additive is somehow related to the obesity epidemic. As another researcher so eloquently states, "The causes of the current obesity pandemic have not been fully elucidated," but, it IS known that this chemical alters early adipogenesis. And early adipogenesis has long been thought related to obesity in later life.

I am proposing this warning be put on baby bottles:


alters early adipogenesis



 and, then we teach all our babies to read.



*Calafat AM, Ye X, Wong L-Y, Reidy JA, Needham LL 2008. Exposure of the U.S. Population to Bisphenol A and 4-tertiary-Octylphenol: 2003–2004. Environ Health Perspect 116:39-44. doi:10.1289/ehp.10753

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