News
Game changer: BPA toxicity
Oct 7, 2011
Photo and story from MIZZOU magazine
If Fred vom Saal never publishes another word on the hazards of bisphenol A, he has already transformed a little-known compound into one of the most studied chemicals in the world.
Vom Saal sounded the first warnings about bisphenol A, or BPA, in 1997. Researchers in his lab at MU’s Division of Biological Sciencesreported that fetal exposure to low levels of the chemical, which has been used in the production of plastics since the 1950s, had altered the adult reproductive system in mice. Since then, hundreds of peer-reviewed animal studies — more than 30 published by vom Saal — have linked BPA to increased risk of breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and reproductive disorders. More…