Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Charity calls to ban cancer-causing chemicals used by women
Breast Cancer UK calls for total ban on BPA chemical
BPA is "contributing to rapid increase in breast cancer"
Chemical commonly used in food and beverage packaging
"URGENT" action is needed to reduce women's exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, a charity says.
Breast Cancer UK says there is "compelling" evidence that Bisphenol
A (BPA) could be contributing to the rapid increase in the number of
women being diagnosed with the disease.
Every year in England
there are nearly 42,000 new cases of breast cancer and incidence rates
have increased by 90 per cent since 1971, the charity said.
In a
new report, it said that low dose exposure to the chemical, which mimics
human hormones and is routinely used in a variety of consumer products
including tin cans, plastic food packaging, water bottles and lunch
boxes, has been linked to breast cancer and other diseases.
In
Australia and elsewhere, BPA is commonly used in the lining of some food
and beverage packaging. Small amounts of the chemical can migrate into
food and beverages from containers and packaging.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand have acknowledged that some studies have raised potential concerns that BPA may cause multiple health problems but that "the overwhelming weight of scientific opinion is that there is no health or safety issue at the levels people are exposed to".
Breast Cancer UK is calling for the hormone-disrupting chemical to be banned from all food and drinks packaging.
"The
European Food Safety Authority... and the UK's Food Standards Agency
claim that BPA is safe, based on their assertion that our exposure to
BPA is allegedly low and that humans rapidly eliminate it from the
body," the Breast Cancer UK report said.
"In reality, it remains
unclear exactly how much BPA we as humans are exposed to on a daily
basis. Tests reveal that our daily exposure could be as much as eight
times more than the so-called 'safe' limit.
"In addition to
evidence to suggest that BPA could be a causative factor in breast
cancer, studies show that it may also be implicated in other health
problems such as infertility, obesity, prostate cancer, brain tumours,
diabetes, heart disease and neurological and behavioural disorders.
"Urgent action is needed to reduce human exposure to BPA."
Lynn
Ladbrook, Breast Cancer UK campaigns manager said the government "can
no longer sweep this sort of overwhelming evidence under the carpet."
"It
must acknowledge that our routine exposure to chemicals, like BPA, is a
key part of the cancer prevention puzzle, one that is currently missing
from its cancer and public health strategies.
"We must redress this gap if we are to begin to help protect the health of future generations."
