Widely Used Food Packaging Material Related to Surge in Prostate Cancers
April 1st, 2006More evidence that many synthetic food and beverage packaging materials are unsafe:
A CHEMICAL used to make food wrapping and line tin cans could be the
cause of surging prostate cancer rates in men, says a study.Bisphenol A is widely used in the food industry to make
polycarbonate drinks bottles and the resins used to line tin cans, even
though it is known to leach into food and has long been suspected of
disrupting human sex hormones.
The
new research suggests the small but constant level of bisphenol A
entering people’s diet has a particular impact on pregnant women,
disastrously altering the development of unborn baby sons.The chemical causes microscopic changes in the developing
prostate gland but these are not apparent at birth. Instead, they show
up years later when they lead to a range of prostate diseases, such as
enlargement and cancer. The changes can also cause malformation of the
urethra, the channel for urine.In Britain, rates of the cancer have surged to about 27,000
new diagnoses and 10,000 deaths a year. It is now almost as big a
killer as breast cancer in women.