Humans are exposed to bisphenol A in plastics in their everyday lives, and children might be most at risk.

Nearly all participants had indications bisphenol A in their urine...

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of more than 2500 U.S. residents shows that nearly everyone in the country carries bisphenol A (BPA) in their bodies and that children carry the highest burden. The observations from NHANES are also "disturbing in that it confirms without a doubt that the youngest are most at risk," he says. Babies probably have the highest BPA levels, but NHANES only includes children 6 years and older.

The new data suggest that people's everyday exposures to BPA are higher than the no-harm level ...studies indicate that an exposure dose would be about 10 times the amount found in blood and urine measurements.

The chemical, used in plastics and food containers, acts as an endocrine disrupter. It has been shown to lead to obesity, depressed growth rates, and prostate cancer in laboratory animals, according to recent reviews by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) panel.

Led by Antonia Calafat of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, researchers analyzed samples collected during the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2003–2004. The team reported online October 24 in Environmental Health Perspectives that concentrations of a BPA metabolite in urine ranged from 0.4 to 149 micrograms per liter (µg/L), with an average of 2.6 µg/L. The researchers also established that children carry "significantly higher" BPA concentrations than adolescents, who in turn have higher levels than adults.

Read more from article by—NAOMI LUBICK (http:/pubs.acs.org)