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Title: BPA May Raise Risk of Asthma in Kids
Source:
Business Week
URL Source: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/636452.html
Published: Mar 1, 2010
Author: Amanda Gardner
Post Date: 2010-03-01 07:41:06 by Critter
Keywords: None
Views: 144
Comments: 13
Mouse study shows exposure during pregnancy might increase chances of condition By Amanda Gardner SUNDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Mouse pups whose mothers were exposed to a common but controversial chemical developed allergic asthma, new research has found. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical commonly found in polycarbonate plastic bottles and the aluminum lining of food and beverage cans. Production of the chemical started about 40 years ago, a timing that scientists note coincides with increasing asthma rates. Various U.S. health agencies recently pledged $30 million toward short- and long-term research aimed at clarifying the health effects of BPA. It has caused problems in lab animals and in people who have had occupational exposure. On Thursday, Maryland became the third state to tackle the issue, when the state legislature passed a ban on BPA in cups and bottles used by children younger than age 4. Minnesota and Connecticut passed similar laws last year. Although the newest study looked only at mice, several experts believed that the findings could be worrisome for humans. "They're using what are probably going to be reasonable estimates of human neonatal exposure, and that seems to have an effect on the developing immune system or sensitivity to asthma," said Dr. Steve Georas, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine and director of the Mary Parkes Center for Asthma, Allergy and Pulmonary Care at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "If you take it together with some epidemiologic studies, I would consider it cause for concern." Dr. Erick Forno, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine added that "the mice they used are very well-accepted models for asthma and allergies so it should be a very good model of what we would expect to happen in humans, although that is not always the case." The findings were to be presented Sunday in New Orleans at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology annual meeting. Previous studies by the same group had also suggested that pups born to mothers who had been exposed to BPA had an increased susceptibility to allergic asthma. The new study focused on which doses might tip the scale. The researchers put 0.1, 1 or 10 micrograms per milliliter of BPA in the drinking water of female mice before, during and after pregnancy. Once born, their pups were injected with ovalbumin to make them susceptible to asthma. Mice born to mothers who had been exposed to 10 micrograms of BPA developed airway problems, though that did not occur among mice born to mothers with lower or no exposure. "It's an exciting finding, an initial finding," Forno said. "I think the next thing is going to have to be not only the level of exposure but also how much or how prolonged does the exposure have to be and if there are any other factors involved." The study's senior author, Dr. Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, an associate professor of pediatrics and biochemistry and molecular biology in the Child Health Research Center at Children's Hospital, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said her group is now collecting cord blood in humans, grouping that according to BPA exposure and following offspring to see if they develop asthma. A second study being presented at the meeting found that children whose mothers had high levels of folate, a B vitamin, during pregnancy were more likely to develop asthma by the age of 3. Too little folate, or folic acid, can contribute to neural tube defects in babies. "This goes along the lines of thinking if some is good, more is better, and we have seen certainly with vitamin supplements, especially with antioxidants, that more is not necessarily better and may be worse," Horovitz said. "Here we're seeing it again." Data came from 507 mothers of children with asthma and 1,455 mothers of children without asthma, all part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. "In both cases, these studies illustrate how much prenatal environmental influence there is," Horovitz said.
HealthDay Reporter
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#1. To: Critter (#0)
Asthma is a terrible disease. I know about it firsthand.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. When I was a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s, I knew exactly one kid with asthma. But everyone, including our family doctors and dentists smoked like chimneys. Now smoking is at all time low levels and asthma rates are many times higher, yet the tendency is to blame smokers.
I really suffered with asthma as a child and even into later years. I don't have it as bad anymore but they thought I was going to die with it when I was two and I can remember times in school when I couldn't catch a breath for what seemed like five or ten minutes for coughing. I wouldn't wish it off on anyone.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Don't worry, they'll get around to blaming Toyota soon enough. Uh huh. About the exact same time people started driving Toyotas in this country. Coincidence? I think not.
I developed seasonal (Winter months) asthma in my early 50s. It's quite manageable, given my lifestyle and ability to head South for breaks, but when I become symptomatic, it isn't fun.
Ever owned or been near a Toyota?
My first experience with drug abuse was when I was about 10. The friend I referred to earlier with asthma had these tiny blue pills. I had about 5 minutes to ride my bicycle about 3 miles to get home in time for dinner or I was "dead". He gave me one and said "Take this, you'll be able to ride really far and fast!". The natural born garbage head in me immediately took it, and I did indeed ride far and fast. I pedaled my little ass off and didn't even get winded. :) Lest I be accused of still being a garbage head, I gave all that up in my twenties.
Nice looking car.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. 1970 - new, I paid a little under 4k, cash on the barrel head. I had some fun summers in that :)
A great buy on that car I would think. And it sure would be now! I have always lusted after a 1969-70 Buick Gran Sport. They were awesome cars I think. This is a picture of a 1970 GSX. 455 Stage 1 engine, 3-speed automatic, black interior, 3.43 gears. Largest torque rating of all 1970 cars at 510 lb/ft and a grossly underrated horsepower of 360. These cars were scary fast right off the showroom floor. Of course, this is far out of my reach but it is a nice dream.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. I had one of these I totally put up the one tree that exists in Brooklyn. I often think to myself that had I saved all the comic books, baseball cards, trains, cars and houses I owned in my lifetime, my net worth would be through the roof. Never once did it occur to me that OLD would be valuable.
That's another beauty. I had a full dresser Harley Davidson one time. A 1965 model pan head. I don't know what it would be worth now, haven't checked. But I do know it is a collector's item because it was the last year Harley made the pan head engine and the first year they had an electric starter. I sure wish I had it back now. I guess I would make a chopper out of it.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
Lord Acton
#2. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
The only real restraint on gummints is people who say "live free or die" ... and mean it. - Enderby
#3. To: Critter (#2)
Lord Acton
#4. To: Critter (#2)
(Edited)
...yet the tendency is to blame smokers.
...started about 40 years ago, a timing that scientists note coincides with increasing asthma rates.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#5. To: Critter (#1)
#6. To: Jethro Tull (#5)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#7. To: Jethro Tull (#5)
The only real restraint on gummints is people who say "live free or die" ... and mean it. - Enderby
#8. To: Esso (#6)
Never had a Toyota, but after a couple of VW Bugs, I bought one of these.
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#8)
Lord Acton
#10. To: James Deffenbach (#9)
#11. To: Jethro Tull (#10)
Lord Acton
#12. To: James Deffenbach (#11)
#13. To: Jethro Tull (#12)
Lord Acton
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