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First it was baby products, then reusable drinking bottles. Now a new report released last week by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets, a coalition of more than 17 public and environmental health groups, shows that bisphenol-A is present in most food preserved in cans (not just in the lining of the cans themselves, where it is used to protect food from corrosion and bacteria). BPA, as the chemical is also called, has been linked to a range of ills including cancer, infertility, and obesity.
For the new study (charmingly titled "No Silver Lining"), researchers analyzed 50 cans of food from 19 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. BPA was found in a whopping 92 percent of the collected samples, with the top level being the highest yet reported in the U.S. -- 1,140 parts per billion. (In case you're keeping track, it was a can of Del Monte French Style Green Beans, and it came from Wisconsin.)
In the past, some have argued that while BPA is certainly present in a variety of plastics, the amount that actually leaches into our food is negligible. Not so here. Mike Schade, a co-author of the study, told AOL News that "real-life meals involving one or more cans of food can cause an individual to ingest levels of BPA that have been shown to cause health effects in laboratory animal studies."
The report further warns that the BPA was found across the board, regardless of brand, nutritional quality, or the price point of the foods. Whether it was the fancy gourmet stuff or the store label, BPA was in the can and therefore also in the food. Walmart's Great Value Green Peas from a store in Kentucky, and Healthy Choice Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup from a pantry in Montana, also scored high according to researchers.
As one might expect, politicians have started crying foul. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D. California, had already called for a ban on BPA in food and beverage containers. "Nearly 200 scientific studies show that exposures to low doses of BPA, particularly during pregnancy and early infancy, are associated with a wide range of adverse health effects later in life," she wrote in a column for the Huffington Post. This report will certainly add weight to her argument.
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5-26-2010 @8:54AM BB said... We had Great Value peas as part of our dinner last night...no wonder I look so fat this morning! lol
But on a serious note...it's sad that after so many years of eating certain foods, studies are being done to WARN us against doing so now. I've lost 3 brothers in the last 3 years to cancer and years ago, I lost an aunt also. Could this have been the result of them eating too many canned foods or other products which have been said to cause this terrible illness?
I agree with Barbara also that we are left with too many unanswered questions. How can we find out of we're suffering from the affects of BPA? Have they tested humans in addition to the laboratory rats? Are there symptoms and if so, what are they? How did the rats act or look or feel? Come on...give us more info! Do I disgard all the canned goods in my pantry or is there a way to perform tests on them before just tossing them out? I think the companies need to be accountable for the distribution of these items. I agree we should start our own gardens, but what about the economic stockpiles we might have already purchased?
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5-25-2010 @10:08AM lin said... Come on now..obesity??? I'd agree that fast food and large portions and just eating processed crap can contribute to obesity but I eat canned foods and I am not obese. Just another thing to blame obesity on. I watch the Biggest Loser every Tues..it isnt the canned goods they're eating..it's the kitchen sink!!
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5-25-2010 @10:06AM kija said... Bpa is also used for filling teeth.
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5-25-2010 @10:15AM Erica said... My son likes Chef Boyardee products every once in a while ... not anymore.
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5-25-2010 @10:34AM Vanessa said... the FDA doesn't give a crap about our lives..... it's all about the almighty dollar...
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5-25-2010 @10:55AM NORMA C. said... People should quite worrying about all this stuf you read on the internet ect. Just do what you normaly do within reason. I am 84 and doing good so my doctor tells me and I hope to be around for the few years. I don't excersise except house work and some yard work and take care of my tow little dogs. That's enough. You are only going to live so long any way. I eat canned stuff and have for years also fresh stuff when I can afford it ect.
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5-25-2010 @10:59AM r said... canned processed food is garbage any how
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5-25-2010 @11:50AM Paul said... They used to report these test results in parts per million. What better way to scare people than to list them as parts per billion as this article does. This makes them look a thousand time highter. In toxicology risk is based on dosage.
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5-25-2010 @11:25AM Heartslord said... "can cause an individual to ingest levels of BPA that have been shown to cause health effects in laboratory animal studies."
As in the same amount (which would probably be a huge amount) given to rats (sadly!)? OR....
was it adjusted by ratio since humans are much larger? It doesn't say so how do we know if the amount rats got is what is referred to as in contrast to hundreds of times the amount?
Details make the article contextually useful!
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5-26-2010 @4:52PM Lauryn said... The way I understood the "levels" was that the concentration in the food is the same as the concentration in that given to the rats per unit of food, and that humans would eat proportionately more of the food in proportion to our body size compared to the rats. Of course, I could be wrong, but that's how I read it. I guess the amounts would be decreased though if a canned ingredient is mixed in with other, non-canned, ingredients, instead of being the full meal in itself.
5-25-2010 @11:22AM Anastasia Beaverhausen said... Thanks alot Big business, and Big Government...eventually we will all learn that we become the lab rats
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5-25-2010 @7:56PM fed up with scare tactic BS said... I am so sick of all this scare tactic crap people are just trying to make excuses as to why they are fat well news flash its not the BPA in your food its the half gallon of soda you drink everyday its the big mac you have for lunch everyday and the fact that you sit on your fat asses all day in front of a computer then go home and do the same with the TV now if you excuse me i am going to go to work at my job that keeps me active it may not pay much but at least i will avoid huge medical bills in the future and then for do some hiking and fishing when i get off
(I apologize for my language this stuff really gets me fired up) but if your offendyou hear worse walking down the street
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5-25-2010 @3:42PM Lauryn said... There's something to be said for possible hormonal changes caused by BPA, maybe only in people susceptible to it, that can help prevent them from burning fat the way they would otherwise be able to. (Same for metabolic changes possibly caused by artificial sweeteners.) No one is saying that lifestyle isn't the main cause of obesity, but sometimes people who are now eating right and are active are still not losing weight like they should be, and one of the reasons their hormones may be preventing them from doing so may be effects from chemicals like BPA.
5-25-2010 @12:04PM John said... There is a German Company that manufactures canning jars and the lids are toxic free. Check stores and web.
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5-25-2010 @11:58AM STILLAROUND&ATEITALLBYNOW said... REMEMBER WHEN... I DO...
JUST FOLLOW THE RULES... ONE OF THEM BEING... IF IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD OR SMELL GOOD ..........IT USUALLY ISN'T....
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5-25-2010 @12:43PM TakeAction said... I have just e-mailed all of my Senators and Congressman and asked tham to join with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D. California, in her call for a ban on BPA in food and beverage containers. It took me less than 5 Minutes online. If you think this is important enough to post a comment here, then take action and send your comments to your elected representatives.
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5-25-2010 @12:55PM Diane said... I am obese. I do not blame BPA for my size. I blame Al Gore...lol. Seriously, I know what I need to do, it is just that doing what I need to do is difficult at my size...mainly..exercise. Anyhow, that aside, I would rather have bpa than some of the other more fatal toxins.
On a different topic, my mom complained about msg and that she was allergic. So I gave her some in something without her knowledge and no allergic reaction. It is all in her head. I imagine if she reads something similar to this article she will go on about it as well. She goes on and on about everything else. I would like to say...Big Deal! I will die when I die. Hopefully not for another fifty years but I am not going to fret about all of these possible chemicals.
Speaking of which...notice how the sensationalist reporters/bloggers always say something could cause...and not will cause such and such. That is because anything could cause anything...not to say it will. But I could say drinking while stupid can cause one to sprout wings and fly. Obviously, that is not going to happen...but it could. So on a final note...I say, bring on the BPA!
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5-25-2010 @1:50PM Bill Q said... It's time to go back to the old way of coating the inside of metal cans by using shellac. Yes this is the same stuff that gets used on high end furniture but it worked for decades before cheaper synthetics came along. Shellac is made from the resin secretions of an insect called the lac bug which is found in India. So we have a choice between "bug goo" and man made toxins. I vote for the "bug goo".
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5-25-2010 @2:09PM gloria said... well folk s weve sure been contaminating our selves a long time so long that our systems have become im,une to the so called bad stuff give me a break what is this a slow news day . iwish youd leave my food and choices up to me and get a life
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5-25-2010 @2:39PM Doug said... Aspartame? Follow the $$$- largest shareholder & investor in Aspartame is...... Donald Rumsfeld, previous Secretary of Defense. Thats Y no one brings it up.
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