In the latest of a series of findings involving health risks associated with plastic additive bisphenol A, a team of MU scientists has determined that women, female monkeys and female mice all metabolize the chemical in similar ways—a result that reinforces the idea that animal models are a legitimate means of predicting bisphenol A’s effects on human beings.
The new study is co-authored by MU’s Frederick vom Saal, a curators’ professor of biological sciences, and Julia Taylor, an assistant research professor. Researchers from the University’s departments of biological and biomedical sciences, the MU Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab, Washington State University and the University of California-Davis also participated. The study appeared in the September 20 edition of the National Institutes of Health journal, Environmental Health Perspectives.
“This study provides convincing evidence that BPA is dangerous to our health at current levels of human exposure,” says vom Saal. “The new results clearly demonstrate that rodent data on the health effects of BPA are relevant to predictions regarding the health effects of human exposure to BPA.”
Reviewed 2013-02-18