Another replacement chemical intended to skirt BPA’s hormone-disrupting potential may itself have troubling hormone-disrupting ways, a new study suggests.
Fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF), a bisphenol A-alternative used in a wide variety of products, interfered with estrogen signaling in yeast and mouse experiments, researchers reported in Nature Communications. In a yeast assay, BHPF proved capable of blocking estrogen—a female sex hormone involved in reproductive system development and pregnancy. In mice, high doses of the chemical caused pregnant females to have smaller wombs, litters, and pups.
The study provides yet another example of a BPA-alternative chemical displaying similar hormone-disrupting potential to BPA, which Ars has reported on previously.
There’s no direct evidence that BHPF disrupts hormones in humans and causes health effects, as is the case for BPA. But, extensive correlative and animal studies on BPA have provided plenty of indirect evidence that the chemicals might. BPA exposure has been associated with cardiovascular problems, cancers, obesity, early puberty, and behavioral disorders, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
Researchers still debate how animal studies, like this one, translate to human health and if the lower doses that humans get reach a threshold of what"s unsafe. They also don’t know the health effects of chronic low-dose exposures, which many people certainly get. BPA and its alternatives are in everything from thermal receipt paper to soup can linings and all sorts of plastic products and epoxy resins. In 2008, 2.7 billion kilograms of BPA were produced worldwide, and demand was increasing.
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