In this news report, the author comments on research from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Cincinnati, who claim to have found the first evidence of a direct link between early exposure to low levels of BPA & cancer of the prostate. Neonatal exposure to BPA permanently altered genes in rat pups, priming the pump for prostate cancer, according to the study which appeared in the journal Cancer Research. The results of animal studies don't translate directly to humans, and the plastics industry plays down the BPA threat. It stated - incorrectly - that the researchers used unusually high doses of BPA on the rats, when in fact, the levels of BPA absorbed into the rats' bloodstream were on par with a typical human's exposure. It emerges that San Francisco is considering adopting the nation's first ban on BPA.
