This week the European Court of Justice  ruled that the European Commission has not adequately identified and banned harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals that play a role in hormone related cancers like prostate, thyroid and breast as well as obesity and type two diabetes.

The FDA, European Union and Canadian authorities have claimed that BPA exposure likely does not pose health risks but the endocrinology societies, research scientists, and now the European Court of Justice thinks otherwise.

Most folks have heard about BPA (bis-phenol A). But there are over one hundred endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)  in our environment. These chemicals interfere with our hormone function by mimicking hormones or blocking normal hormone signals. Using BPA free plastic bottles and cans does not guarantee you are safe from the toxic effects of these chemicals because BPA is often replaced by one of many other disrupting alternative chemicals. There are 13 types of bisphenols alone, along with over one hundred total identified EDCs. Many beverage and food items come in plastic containers or cans lined with EDCs, exposing us to the  unnecessary risk of endocrine disruptors. Acidic beverages and acidic foods (such as coffee, soda, lemon juice, etc) are particularly more likely to leach out these chemicals into the foods and beverages contained therein. Extremes of temperature (hot or cold) will also increase the amount of chemicals leached into the food and then into your body. So sipping a hot coffee or tea through a plastic lid is not an innocuous event, yet millions of Americans do it every day. Serving “bottled water” in plastic containers that have been sitting on shelves, shipped in hot trucks, or sitting in the sun at a party may not be very helpful to your guests.

Emerging evidence has established a role for these endocrine disruptors not only for cancer but for obesity, diabetes, ADD and autism.

A recent study has suggested that because of endocrine disruptors in our environment, we must today consume less calories and exercise more to avoid obesity. (Obes Res Clin Pract. 2015; DOI:10.1016/j.orcp.2015.08.007).

“for a given amount of caloric intake, macronutrient intake or leisure time physical activity, the predicted BMI was up to 2.3 kg/m² higher in 2006 that in 1988 in the mutually adjusted model (P < 0.05).”

From a Medscape report on this topic:

“A European ( study ) reported earlier this year suggested that health effects from endocrine-disrupting chemicals cost the European Community €157 billion annually, and this report linked prenatal exposure to BPA to childhood obesity, with associated lifetime costs of €1.54 billion.”

Links to some articles and resources are listed below.

Be careful out there!

Dr. Bob

Emerging Picture on Role of EDCs, Microbiome in Obesity, Diabetes

Endocrine Disruptors Cause Range of Diseases; Cost 157 Billion Euros

US Endocrine Society Warns Again on Endocrine Disrupters

Endocrine disruptor – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

endocrine disruptors AND obesity – Google Scholar

endocrine disruptors AND cancer – Google Scholar

endocrine disruptors AND autism – Google Scholar

endocrine disruptors AND attention deficit disorder – Google Scholar