Exposure to the harmful chemical Bisphenol-A or BPA, found in many beverage cans and plastic bottles, is potentially harmful and can lead to miscarriages or child birth defects, a new study says.
Concern has been expressed time and again about the chemical, linked to a variety of health issues like cancer, neurological issues and heart disease.
Finding the health issues associated with the chemical, FDA recently issued a ban on the chemical in baby bottles and sippy cups.
The current study initiated by researchers Patricia Hunt and colleagues re-confirms the role played by the chemical in reproductive problems. They found the chemical disrupting women's reproductive systems, thus leading to chromosome damage, miscarriage and birth defects.
"The concern is exposure to this chemical could increase the risk of miscarriages and the risk of babies born with birth defects like Down Syndrome," Hunt, said in a news release. "The really stunning thing about the effect is we're dosing grandma, it's crossing the placenta and hitting her developing fetus, and if that fetus is a female, it's changing the likelihood that that female is going to ovulate normal eggs. It's a three-for-one hit."
The findings are based on the experiments conducted by the investigators on rhesus monkeys. All the monkeys, part of the study were divided into different groups and exposed to daily doses of BPA.
Results showed exposure to BPA hindering the natural process of egg development- eggs not packaged properly in follicles and structures. Similar changes have been linked to genetic defects in mature eggs in mouse, earlier.
According to the investigators, the wrong number of chromosomes in the fertilized eggs can pave the way for spontaneous abortion or child with birth defects.
"That's not good, because it looks to us like you're just throwing away a huge number of the eggs that a female would have. It raises concerns about whether or not she's going to have a really short reproductive lifespan," Hunt said.
Findings of the study have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
