Study Finds BPA Babies More Aggressive

Canada – Babies, whose mothers were exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) whilst pregnant, have recently been found to show aggressive and hyperactive behaviours as two-year-olds, a new study shows.

The BPA study, conducted by students at the University of North Carolina and British Columbia's Simon Fraser University is the first to scrutinise the connection between prenatal BPA exposure and behavioural issues in babies and young children.
The results from the Canadian study showed that girls whose mothers had been exposed to BPA during pregnancy demonstrated much more "externalised" behaviour than average two-year-old girls. This essentially means that the children studied showed more aggressive tendencies and hyperactivity.

The study calculated BPA levels in urine samples taken from 249 pregnant women in Cincinnati, Ohio, at 16 and 26 weeks of pregnancy, then again at birth. The children were assessed for behavioural problems at the age of two through a series of questionnaires that were completed by parents.

While there was a measurable increase in aggressive behaviour among girls, the study also showed some evidence of increased depression and anxiousness among BPA-exposed boys.

Last October, Canada became the first country to formally declare BPA hazardous to human health, and to officially inform the baby-product industry it would no longer be able to use the chemical in baby bottles.

Canada To Host Meeting On BPA

Ottawa - In October 2010, Canada will be the host on one of the most important meetings to to with BPA ever held, this is no coincidence seeing Canada was the first country to ban BPA in baby bottles. The meeting will also discuss BPA being used in food packaging.

A World Health Organisation meeting on the role of bisphenol A (BPA) — a hormone disrupter that can cause the early onset of puberty, reproductive damage and lead to the development of prostate and breast cancer — will take place in Ottawa in October 2010.

In what he called a "precautionary and prudent" move, then health minister Tony Clement in October 2008 added the chemical to Health Canada's toxic substance list, and banned its use in baby bottles. BPA, a building block in polycarbonate plastic, is also found in some sports bottles and the lining of metal-based food cans.

At that time, Clement also announced a three-year, $1.7 million research fund to study the effects of BPA.

Tuesday's statement said these findings will be submitted to experts as part of the review.