Scientists furious at conclusions reached by a federal panel charged with assessing the safety of a common household chemical have retaliated. And they’re using science as their weapon.

In a paper released online this month in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri published a study that strikes at the core of the panel’s findings on bisphenol A, a chemical found in baby bottles and the linings of food cans.

The researchers have shown that the panel’s decision to disregard dozens of studies in which animals were exposed to the chemical via injections, instead of through the mouth or stomach, was specious. And they are calling on the government to re-evaluate, or dismiss, the panel’s conclusions.

In November, the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction released a report on bisphenol A that minimized concern about the chemical after reviewing more than 700 studies published over the past 30 years.

Hundreds of studies have shown that this chemical can cause a host of maladies, including breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, obesity, low sperm counts and miscarriage in laboratory animals. The chemical has been detected in 93% of Americans tested.

In December, the Journal Sentinel found that the panel’s report, written by 12 scientists appointed by the National Institute of Environment Sciences, gave more weight to industry-funded studies and more leeway to industry-funded researchers. The newspaper found that the panel missed dozens of studies publicly available that the newspaper found online using a medical research Internet search engine.

This latest research exposes one of the major criticisms raised against the panel – namely, the decision to throw away, or give only marginal weight, to studies in which animals were injected with bisphenol A, as opposed to getting it through the mouth or stomach.

The panel wrote that because people are most likely exposed to bisphenol A by the mouth, when it leaches into canned foods or liquids consumed in clear plastic bottles, it’s the only relevant way to expose animals.

It also cited research showing that when adult animals and people ingest bisphenol A, enzymes in the liver make the chemical inactive. However, when adult animals are injected with the chemical, this route is bypassed, and they show much higher concentrations.

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