Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A (BPA) is found in epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastic. Translation: it's found in virtually everything and everyone.

What do I use that has BPA?
You might be aware of the campaigns against plastic bottles, as see in the comprehensive videos of the Story of Stuff (source of the line-drawing images, see the comprehensive video here).

We are largely exposed to BPA by ingestion of food from cans (inner lining), plastic-packaged food and bottled drinks. It especially leaches into food/drinks when they are warm or acidic.It is also found in other products that we touch all the time, such as thermal paper (e.g. receipts, event and cinema tickets, labels, and airline tickets) or carbonless copy paper, where it may be later ingested when hands come into contact with food.

The sad unethical reality of it is that for those who cannot afford to buy fresh food as a primary source of nutrition, packaged goods and canned goods may be the only way to eat enough. Better to eat something rather than nothing? But the health consequences are doubly felt by those who depend on food banks and are living in poverty. Green consumerism is a privilege in our society.

What health consequences?
BPA is one of many compounds that are known to have endocrine disrupting effects. Endocrine is just a fancy word for messenger molecules, among the most commonly known are hormones. In the case of BPA, it mimics estrogen and interferes with estrogen receptors, which are found all over the body, in men and women, and not just in the reproductive organs. This causes widespread problems, especially when exposed during periods of accelerated growth (e.g. fetal, early years, puberty, pregnancy). The concern was great enough that our government has banned the use of BPA in baby bottles. But what about everything else? As it stands, it would be a HUGE overhaul to remove BPA from all the products its found in and the government has declared that the quantities are negligible. Though really, these molecules are very effective at low doses, that's precisely how they work!

There is a long list of health problems that are suspected to be related to BPA exposure, here are some: neurological deficits, disrupts thyroid function, sexual organ anomalies, and certain types of cancer (particularly breast, prostate and brain). There is also a growing concern in the potential relation between BPA exposure and the increasing rates of obesity.