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| Title: | LEACHING OF BISPHENOL A FROM POLYCARBONATE PLASTIC DISRUPTS DEVELOPMENT VIA EPIGENETIC MECHANISMS | |
| DOI No: | 10.1142/9789812709233_0030 | |
| Source: | INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON NUCLEAR WAR AND PLANETARY EMERGENCIES 36TH SESSION (pp 221-229) | |
| Author(s): | FREDERICK S. VOM SAAL
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA JULIA A. TAYLOR Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA BENJAMIN L. COE Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA JAMES R. KIRKPATRICK Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA MAREN E. BELL Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA JIUDE MAO Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA WADE V. WELSHONS Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA STEFANO PARMIGIANI Department of Evolutionary and Functional Biology, University of Parma, Parma, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Bisphenol A (BPA) is the monomer used to manufacture polycarbonate plastic and is produced in excess of 6-billion pounds per year. This is an unstable polymer, and significant leaching of BPA into the environment occurs. Animal research has shown a myriad of adverse health effects due to exposure to BPA, and while only a few epidemiological studies have been conducted, they confirm the animal findings. BPA is referred to as an endocrine disrupting chemical, since BPA mimics the activity of the endogenous hormone estradiol. Similar to other hormones, hormonally active drugs and other endocrine disrupting chemicals, BPA can permanently alter gene activity when exposure occurs during “critical periods” in cell differentiation. The mechanism by which this “programming” of genes occurs is via “epigenetic” modification of the proteins associated with genes, as well as covalent addition of methyl groups to specific sites in the promoter region of genes. The mechanisms by which BPA and other chemicals in plastic cause adverse effects are thus known in considerable detail. | |
| Full Text: | View full text in PDF format (685KB) | |
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