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31 August 2006
Questions Linger Over Common Chemical’s Link To Breast Cancer 
Bisphenol A (BPA), a common industrial chemical that is linked to breast and ovarian cancers, retains its carcinogenic properties and is not broken down once inside the human body, reports a study in Chemistry & Biology. BPA is a plasticizer present in drink bottles, CDs, DVDs, car parts and other household products. Previously, defenders of BPA's use have argued that its modification inside the human body renders the estrogen-like chemical harmless. "We tested whether this modification keeps the chemical from being absorbed by breast tumor cells," said Indiana University researcher, Theodore Widlanski. "We've shown that modified versions of BPA likely to be formed in the body do stimulate breast tumor cell growth in vitro. Enzymes present on the surface of breast tumor cells appear to convert the modified BPA back into BPA." Widlanski said that he had always been skeptical of claims that BPA causes or speeds the development of cancer and birth defects. "All along we set out to show the opposite - that BPA is not harmful. If any of the answers to our questions had been 'no', then we would have concluded BPA was not dangerous. But we can't do that." "If our hypothesis is true about BPA, it's probably going to be the sum of effects of a lot of cancer-causing compounds that is responsible for the disease," Widlanski said. "We would not anticipate that BPA or any other single chemical is the only culprit here." Source: Indiana University
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