Is BPA plastics chemical safe for use by humans?
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON – To ban or not to ban, that is the question now being asked about a chemical named bisphenol A – aka BPA – used in the production of plastic bottles and a wide range of other consumer products. Polycarbonate plastics like BPA have several advantages over other types of plastics: they’re transparent, durable and able to withstand high heat, and have high electrical resistance. Epoxy resins produced with BPA are particularly strong and are used in dental applications as well as industrial uses. Proponents of a ban on BPA claim that the chemical has all sorts of noxious effects, including hormonal disruption, heart disease, diabetes and worse still, aggressive toddlers. They also contend that BPA poses these dangers even in extremely small quantities, including the amount that might leak out of the dental epoxy used to hold in a crown or the amount that might leach out of a sippy-cup into baby’s morning apple juice. But as Paracelsus, the father o
