BPA Exposure Disrupts Egg Development

When a woman experiences a miscarriage or has a baby born with a birth defect like Down Syndrome, the cause is usually a mystery. Modern medicine simply does not have an explanation in most cases, although there are some clues coming in.

October 16, 2012 | Source: Mercola.com | by Dr.Mercola

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When a woman experiences a miscarriage or has a baby born with a birth defect like Down Syndrome, the cause is usually a mystery. Modern medicine simply does not have an explanation in most cases, although there are some clues coming in.

Environmental Chemicals Like BPA May Have Serious Reproductive Effects

 Bisphenol-A (BPA) is one of the world’s highest production-volume chemicals and as a result of its widespread use has been found in more than 90 percent of Americans tested. BPA is an endocrine disrupter, which means it mimics or interferes with your body’s hormones and “disrupts” your endocrine system.

 The glands of your endocrine system and the hormones they release influence almost every cell, organ, and function of your body. It is instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, metabolism, as well as sexual function and reproductive processes.

 The strongest evidence showing that exposure to environmental chemicals like BPA can lead to disruption of endocrine function comes from bizarre changes seen in a number of wildlife species, such as intersex fish, frogs developing a variety of defects like multiple testes or ovaries, and hermaphrodite bears, just to name a few.

 But evidence is also very strong showing these chemicals are influencing humans, too, and leading to decreased sperm quality, early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles and ovarian dysfunction, among numerous other health problems, like cancer and heart disease, as well.