Effects from BPA exposure last generations

A new study published in the journal Endocrinology shows exposure to low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) during gestation had immediate and long-lasting, trans-generational effects on the brain and social behaviors in mice.

Public health concerns have been fueled by findings that BPA exposure can influence brain development. In mice, prenatal exposure to BPA is associated with increased anxiety, aggression and cognitive impairments.

The findings come just three months after FDA rejected the Natural Resources Defense Council’s petition to ban BPA from food and beverage packaging. FDA said NRDC did not present compelling scientific evidence to impose new restrictions; however, the agency said it will continue to study the issue.

“We have demonstrated for the first time to our knowledge that BPA has trans-generational actions on social behavior and neural expression,” said Emilie Rissman, PhD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “Since exposure to BPA changes social interactions in mice at a dose within the reported human levels, it is possible that this compound has trans-generational actions on human behavior. If we banned BPA tomorrow, pulled all products with BPA in them, and cleaned up all landfills tomorrow it is possible, if the mice data generalize to humans, that we will still have effects of this compound for many generations.”

For the study, female mice were fed food with or without BPA before mating and throughout gestation. Plasma levels of BPA in supplemented female mice were in a range similar to those measured in humans. Juveniles in the first generation exposed to BPA in utero displayed fewer social interactions as compared with control mice. The changes in genes were most dramatic in the first generation (the offspring of the mice that were exposed to BPA in utero), but some of these gene changes persisted into the fourth generation.

“BPA is a ubiquitous chemical, it is in the air, water, our food, and our bodies,” Rissman said. “It is a man-made chemical, and is not naturally occurring in any plant or animal. The fact that it can change gene expression in mice, and that these changes are heritable, is cause for us to be concerned about what this may mean for human health.”

Fonte – CHEVY CHASE, Md., Food Product Design de 18 de junho de 2012