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DIOXI’NS IN SHAMPOOS, SKIN CREAMS
AND DRINKS FROM PLASTIC LINED CONTAINERS
MAY INCREASE CANCER
Additional source of dietary ‘estrogens’
team reports. The pH of the food did notappear to affect leaching.
these included corn, artichoke hearts, mush- contain small quantities of an estrogenlike quantities -just 4 to 22 micrograms per 300 BPA turned up in roughly half of the items, the researchers report in the June environ- bisphenol-A (BPA) - appears to leach from under regulations set by the European Union.
the plastic resins coating the inside of af- cessors note that about 40 percent of food BPA is also FDA-approved, and “no research cans in Spain are lined with plastic, compared or experience has suggested it might cause any adverse effects,” says Roger Coleman of the national Food Processors Association in studies began linking these ubiquitous con- V. Krishnan of Stanford University School Feldman’s studies indicate. that BPA pos- cancer (SN: 7/3/93, p-10) and reproductive from plastic subjected to high temperatures, sesses only one-thousandth the potency of abnormalities (SN: l/22/94, p.56). During estradiol, the major estrogen in humans.
the past 4 years, endocrinologists have identi- 7/3/93, p-10) Olea told SCIENCE NEWS that quickly, notes endocrinologist Ana M Soto the sterilization of canned foods closely of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. If BPA lasts longer than estradiol or cans to avoid flavor-altering chemical reac- if the body cannot inactivate BPA as effi- tions between the cans and their contents, continue to leach out. For instance, when a ciently, “then it might prove more active than Nicolas Olea and his coworkers at the Uni- plastic-lined can was washed out and refilled it at first sight appeared,” she says.
with water, that water soon picked up mea- -J. Raloff
different brands of canned goods. Purchased Newest estrogen mimics the commonest?
Phthalates, compounds best known for their ability to make plastics flexible, are the most abundant industrial contaminants in the environment. Two new studies nowdemonstrate that at least a couple of them possess a hormonal alter ego: they activatereceptors for estrogen, the primary female sex hormone.
Both studies also established the estrogenicity of BHA, a preservative commonly In recent years, scientists have been compiling a list of emasculating agents that work by mimicking estrogen, Susan Jobling of Brunel University in Uxbridge,England, and her colleagues collared the three new prospects while assaying 20common sewage contaminants. They were scouting sources of the estrogenicity thatteammate John P. Sumpter had observed in wastes from sewage-treatment plants(SN: l/8/94, p.24).
Nine of these pollutants hind to estrogen receptors. The researchers incubated cells with each of the nine to see whether any of them triggered the receptor’s normalactivity. BHA, butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) not onlyappeared estrogenic, but also stimulated the growth of breast cancer cells in culture,the group reports in the June ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES.
At the same time, researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the University of Granada in Spain were studying some of the same compounds.
Their findings, to be published in the same journal later this year, also identify BHAand BBP as estrogens. However, while DBP did not exhibit estrogenicity in their assays, a third plasticizer - diphenyl phthalate - did.
Where does one find phthalates? DBP serves as a dispersant in some insect repellents and appears in plastic plumbing pipes and food wraps. Indeed, the Britishteam cites studies finding up to 500 micrograms of DBP per kilogram of food wrapped in plastic. BBP goes into vinyl floor tiles, adhesives, synthetic leather, and the papersand cardboard designed for contact with liquid, dry, and fatty foods. That lastapplication may explain how butter and margarines end up laced with BBP atconcentrations exceeding 45 milligrams per kilogram, as cited in “Male Reproductive Health and Environmental Chemicals with Estrogenic Effects,” a new report by theDanish Environmental Protection Agency in Copenhagen.
Biomedicine
Cancer and heart risks of dioxins
Several studies have indicated an apparent increased risk of death from cancer among individuals heavily exposed to dioxins and suchclose chemical cousins as furans (SN: 9/4/93, p.149). A new study now looks at men who worked at a pesticide plant in Hamburg,Germany, at any time between 1952 and the facility’s closing in 1984.
It shows that a man's exposure-to dioxins and. furans corresponds to a dose-dependent elevation in his risk of dying not only from cancerbut also from heart disease - especially clogged arteries.
Dieter Flesch-Janys of Hamburg’s Center for Chemical Workers’ Health and his colleagues stratified the 1,189 men using estimates ofeach worker’s exposure. They based those values on how long a manhad worked (and where in the plant) and, if available, on recordedbody concentrations of TCDD --- the most potent dioxin - or its toxic equivalents. They found that plant veterans with the highest expo-sures faced more than three times the risk of dying from cancer and2.5 times the risk of dying from ischemic heart disease as workers of similar ages from a nearby gas plant.
“These findings refine the strong existing evidence of a carcino- genic effect of [dioxins and furans] in humans,‘* the researchersconclude in the Dec. 1 A MERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY . T h eHamburg team cites three reports that showed hints of a heart diseaserisk attributable to dioxins. In one of these reports, the investigating epidemiologists had speculated that stress was the likely cause. Intheir new study, Flesch-Janys and his coworkers note that “there is some evidence from animal models that TCDD may promote atherosclerosis, " which “lends credibility to a causal interpretation ofour [heart disease] findings.” NY CONSUMER AFFAIRS COMM.
URGES BAN ON SKIN BLEACHES
Because he fears that skin bleach products may be carcinogenic, cause disfiguring skin diseases and aremislabeled, New York’s Commissioner of ConsumerAffairs Mark Green has urged the FDA to ban theproducts completely.
Mr. Green wrote FDA Commissioner David Kessler asking him to “act quickly to seize them and then ban 11skin-bleaching creams that are mostly sold to African-Americans.” The products all contain hydroquinone.

Source: http://crowndiamond.net/techpack/0525.pdf