Cancer
Bisphenol A may raise breast cancer risk
By Sue Mueller
Sep 18, 2008 - 3:23:48 PM

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THURSDAY Sep 18, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study by Dr. Theodore Widlanski and colleagues from Indiana University and the University of California and published in the journal Chemistry & Biology showedbreast cancer cells can pick up bisphenol A indicating that this chemical may have something to do with the development of breast cancer.

A study published Dec. 8 in the online edition of Reproductive Toxicology suggests that exposure of female fetuses to bisphenol A or BPA may likely increase their risk of breast cancer in adulthood.

For the study, Ana M. Soto, professor of anatomy and cellular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine, in Boston tested bisphenol A in female rats and found female rats whose mothers were exposed to bisphenol A during pregnancy were significantly more likely to develop breast cancer than those without being exposed to the compound in mothers' womb.

Early studies have led to discoveries that bisphenol A may increase growth of human breast cancer cells and it may be also implicated in development of other diseases such as prostate cancer and brain tissue damages.  Scott Belcher, Ph. D. and colleagues from University of Cincinnati reported in two articles in the December 2005 edition of the journal Endocrinology that bisphenol A shows negative effects in brain tissue at as low as 0.25 parts per trillion.

Early studies of nonsteroidal estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) show that those whose mothers received the chemical during pregnancies between 1948 and 1971were two to three times more likely to develop breast cancer.   Bisphenol A is chemically similar to DES, suggesting that it may increase the risk of breast cancer as well, according to Soto, cited by the American Chemical Society.