Food packaging link to cancer
A study linked low levels of the chemicals to the development of vulnerable and hormone-sensitive breast tissue in mice.
Experts believe the findings have alarming implications for human health.
The mammary glands of pubescent female mice developed structurally in a way that made them more likely to develop breast cancer.
They also became unusually sensitised to oestrogen, which fuels the majority of breast tumours in humans.
The research focused on bisphenol-A (BPA), a compound used in large quantities in the manufacture of plastic food containers, the resins that line food cans, and dental sealants.
An estimated six billion pounds of BPA is produced each year around the world.
Research has shown that the chemical leaches out of products and may be absorbed at low concentrations into the body.
Scientists working with animals have already demonstrated that BPA is potentially damaging to health. But the new study is the first to suggest that even extremely weak levels of exposure in the womb may be harmful.
A team of US researchers, led by Professor Ana Soto, from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, administered tiny doses of BPA to groups of pregnant mice.
The doses, 25 and 250 nanograms of the chemical per kilogram of body weight, were designed to mimic the kind of levels humans are likely to be exposed to. A nanogram is a billionth of a gram.
One of the most striking effects of BPA exposure was a large increase in the number and density of terminal end buds, part of the mammary gland’s milk-producing structure. It is here that breast tumours typically form.
