Your body is probably home to a chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA.
It’s a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in
everything from plastics to epoxies — to the tune of six pounds per American per year. That’s a lot of estrogen.

More than 92 percent
of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it —
though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity,
from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and
girls alike.

Now it turns out it’s in our food.

Consumer Reports magazine tested
an array of brand-name canned foods for a report in its December issue
and found BPA in almost all of them. The magazine says that relatively
high levels turned up, for example, in Progresso vegetable soup,
Campbell’s condensed chicken noodle soup, and Del Monte Blue Lake cut
green beans.

The magazine also says it found BPA in the canned
liquid version of Similac Advance infant formula (but not in the
powdered version) and in canned Nestlé Juicy Juice (but not in the
juice boxes). The BPA in the food probably came from an interior
coating used in many cans.

Should we be alarmed?

The chemical industry doesn’t think so. Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council
dismissed the testing, noting that Americans absorb quantities of BPA
at levels that government regulators have found to be safe. Mr. Hentges
also pointed to a new study indicating that BPA exposure did not cause abnormalities in the reproductive health of rats.

But more than 200 other studies have shown links between low doses of BPA and adverse health effects, according to the Breast Cancer Fund, which is trying to ban the chemical from food and beverage containers.

“The
vast majority of independent scientists — those not working for
industry — are concerned about early-life low-dose exposures to BPA,”
said Janet Gray, a Vassar College professor who is science adviser to
the Breast Cancer Fund.

Published journal articles
have found that BPA given to pregnant rats or mice can cause malformed
genitals in their offspring, as well as reduced sperm count among
males. For example, a European journal found that male mice exposed to
BPA were less likely to make females pregnant, and the Journal of
Occupational Health found that male rats administered BPA had less
sperm production and lower testicular weight.

This year, the
journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that pregnant mice
exposed to BPA had babies with abnormalities in the cervix, uterus and
vagina. Reproductive Toxicology found that even low-level exposure to
BPA led to the mouse equivalent of early puberty for females. And an
array of animal studies link prenatal BPA exposure to breast cancer and
prostate cancer.

While most of the studies are on animals, the
Journal of the American Medical Association reported last year that
humans with higher levels of BPA in their blood have “an increased
prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme
abnormalities.” Another published study found that women with higher
levels of BPA in their blood had more miscarriages.

Scholars have
noted some increasing reports of boys born with malformed genitals,
girls who begin puberty at age 6 or 8 or even earlier, breast cancer in
women and men alike, and declining sperm counts among men. The
Endocrine Society, an association of endocrinologists, warned this year
that these kinds of abnormalities may be a consequence of the rise of
endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and it specifically called on
regulators to re-evaluate BPA.

Last year, Canada became the
first country to conclude that BPA can be hazardous to humans, and
Massachusetts issued a public health advisory in August warning against
any exposure to BPA by pregnant or breast-feeding women or by children
under the age of 2.

The Food and Drug Administration, which in
the past has relied largely on industry studies — and has generally
been asleep at the wheel — is studying the issue again. Bills are also pending in Congress to ban BPA from food and beverage containers.

“When
you have 92 percent of the American population exposed to a chemical,
this is not one where you want to be wrong,” said Dr. Ted Schettler of
the Science and Environmental Health Network. “Are we going to quibble
over individual rodent studies, or are we going to act?”

While
the evidence isn’t conclusive, it justifies precautions. In my family,
we’re cutting down on the use of those plastic containers that contain
BPA to store or microwave food, and I’m drinking water out of a metal
bottle now. In my reporting around the world, I’ve come to terms with
the threats from warlords, bandits and tarantulas. But endocrine
disrupting chemicals — they give me the willies.