Source: Liz Szabo, USA Today

A government agency Wednesday said there’s “some concern” that a controversial ingredient in plastic alters behavior and development of the brain and prostate gland in children and babies, both before and after birth.

The National Toxicology Program’s final ruling on bisphenol A, or BPA, contradicts a Food and Drug Administration report issued two weeks ago. The FDA found that people aren’t endangered by their current exposure to BPA, which is found in thousands of consumer products and the bodies of virtually everyone tested. The FDA will discuss the safety of BPA at a meeting Sept. 16.

The toxicology program rates its concerns on a five-point scale, from “negligible” to “serious,” based on the strength of scientific evidence. It expressed “some concern” — a middle level — that BPA affects development at levels to which people are exposed everyday. The program has “minimal” concern — its second-lowest level — that BPA affects the breast or causes early puberty in girls and “negligible” concern that it causes birth defects, fetal or newborn death or reproductive problems in adults.

Read Full Article: ‘Some concern’ still tied to chemical in plastics