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A new study linking a toxin in plastics to heart disease and diabetes, confirms assertions that consumer advocates have been making for years. Bisphenol A or BPA is used widely in plastic food and beverage containers, including baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as to line the coating of food cans. Consumer safety organizations had long relied on animal studies. Now, British researchers have found that among 1,455 US adults, those with the highest levels of BPA in their blood stream are more likely to have heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and raises new questions about why the food industry has continued to use BPA in food packaging even while safer alternatives exist. About 7 billion pounds of BPA are produced globally every year and according to government agencies, 93% of Americans have it in their bodies. Shockingly, after hearing held just yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration on the safety of BPA, the chemical was deemed safe. Laura Tarantino, head of the FDA’s office of food additive safety said, “Right now, our tentative conclusion is that it’s safe, so we’re not recommending any change in habits.”

GUEST: Sonia Lunder, Senior Scientist with EWG and an expert on Bisphenol A. For more information, visit http://www.ewg.org/featured/218.