Blogs / 80beats

New health concerns have been raised about the plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA); a study suggests that there is a link between high levels of exposure to BPA and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. While the new study doesn’t prove a cause and effect relationship, only a correlation, it is the first human survey to follow up on troubling findings from animal studies.

The chemical, which is often found in baby bottles, sports water bottles, and other non-recyclable containers, has gotten several waves of bad press in the past few months. A recent experiment showed that extremely high doses of the chemical damage monkeys’ brains, and other work in animals has suggested that BPA has the potential to disrupt normal hormone signalling by mimicking the natural hormone, oestrogen. Such studies have linked the chemical to a wide range of conditions, including low sperm count, altered fetal development, behavioural disorders in children and prostate cancer [Nature News].

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Meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may already be part of the U.S. food supply, the Food and Drug Administration announced this week. While the cloning process is too expensive (about $20,000 per animal) to justify creating clones that will be turned into hamburgers, some ranchers have cloned animals with desirable traits, which they then breed the old-fashioned way to create offspring. Officials said it is impossible to differentiate between cloned animals, their offspring and conventionally bred animals, making it difficult to know if offspring are in the food supply [Reuters].

The use of cloned livestock–particularly cows, swine, and sheep–has been fiercely debated in the United States and Europe. In January, the FDA declared that cloned animals and their offspring were as safe to eat as conventionally bred animals; regulators still ask that food companies follow a voluntary moratorium on using cloned animals for food production, but no such moratorium exists for the clones’ natural offspring. Those offspring may have made it into the food supply, a U.S. Agriculture Department spokesman said, but “they would be a very limited number because of the very few number of clones that are out there and relatively few of those clones are at an age where they would be parenting” [Reuters].

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A new study of a chemical commonly used in plastic containers found that it causes damage to monkey’s brains, raising new concerns over the chemical’s possible effects on humans. The chemical, called bisphenol A or BPA, has been the source of controversy for months as government agencies and scientists have gone back and forth on whether the substance is a health threat. BPA has been in commercial use since the 1950s, and is found in baby bottles, water bottles, in the lining used for canned goods, and many other items.

In the latest study, the research team exposed monkeys to levels of bisphenol A deemed safe for humans by the Environmental Protection Agency and found that the chemical interfered with brain cell connections vital to memory, learning and mood. “Our findings suggest that exposure to low-dose BPA may have widespread effects on brain structure and function,” the authors wrote [Washington Post].

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A new method to identify an individual’s genetic profile from a larger pool of genetic data could be a boon for forensic science, but is causing headaches for the National Institutes of Health. In response to a study describing the technique, the NIH quickly removed several publicly available databases of DNA information drawn from medical studies, citing concerns that patients’ privacy could be threatened.

The new type of DNA analysis could only identify an individual if that person’s genetic profile was already known. Such a confirmation could reveal patients’ participation in a study about a specific medical condition, denying them their presumed confidentiality, experts said [Los Angeles Times]. NIH officials say they took down the databases, which contained genetic data from more than 60,000 patients, as a precautionary measure, and say it’s unlikely that the privacy of any of those patients has been violated.

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The Food and Drug Administration released a draft report on Friday saying that a chemical used in baby bottles and other plastics is not a health threat. The FDA announcement is just the latest twist to a health story that has already alarmed and confused consumers; the chemical, called bisphenol A or BPA, was recently declared a toxin by the Canadian government, and several states are considering banning products that contain it. In April, Wal-Mart announced that its stores will stop selling baby bottles containing BPA.

BPA, a plastic-hardening chemical, is similar to the hormone estrogen. A report in April from the U.S. National Toxicology Program said animal studies suggested its use may pose a cancer risk and lead to early or delayed puberty [Bloomberg]. But the new FDA report says that only small amounts of the chemical leach out from bottles and the lining used for canned foods, and says that it doesn’t pose a threat to infants or adults.

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In a controversial new procedure, doctors removed the hearts from three severely brain damaged infants soon after the babies were removed from life support and transplanted the organs to three other infants, where the hearts were restarted. The news is raising complicated questions about when a patient can be declared dead, and whether doctors are pushing an already controversial organ-retrieval strategy beyond acceptable legal, moral and ethical bounds [The Washington Post].

The hearts of the three donor babies stopped beating soon after their ventilators were removed. In the first case, the Denver team waited three minutes after what appeared to be the last heartbeat. But because there has never been a case where the heart restarted itself after 60 seconds, they waited only 75 seconds for their next two cases [Reuters]. All three babies who received new hearts would have died without the transplants; six months after the operations, all three were doing fine. Doctors believe the swift organ removals from the donor babies increased the odds of survival for the recipient babies.

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At the age of 75, men should stop getting screened for prostate cancer, according to new recommendations from a government task force. The group reported finding evidence that the benefits of treatment based on routine screening of this age group “are small to none” [AP]. Those potential benefits are far outweighed by the possible anxiety, unnecessary surgery, and harmful side effects that elderly men can experience if the screening finds early-stage prostate cancer and the patient chooses to treat it.

Most oncologists already argue against treating most men in that age group for prostate cancer because they are more likely to die from some other cause than from their tumor [Los Angeles Times]. Prostate cancer often progresses slowly, and doctors say it can take 10 years before a patient begins to show symptoms. Many doctors now advocate a “watchful waiting” approach when prostate cancer is detected, instead of aggressive treatment that can cause impotence, incontinence, and bowel problems.

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Last week’s suicide by a government biodefense researcher who had been linked to the mailing of anthrax-laced letters in 2001 has raised thorny questions about whether the benefits of biodefense research outweigh the risks. Researcher Bruce Ivins had reportedly been informed by the FBI that he was about to be indicted for murder in the incident that killed five people and sent 17 more to the hospital.

Some observers point out that biodefense research has vastly increased since the terrorist attacks of 2001, and raise the question: Has the unprecedented boom in biodefense research made the country less secure by multiplying the places and people with access to dangerous germs? … Nationwide, an estimated 14,000 people work at about 400 laboratories and have permission to work with so-called select agents, which could be used in a bioterror attack, although not all are authorized to handle the most toxic substances, like anthrax [The New York Times].

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California is striking a blow against obesity and heart disease: On Friday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill outlawing the use of trans fats in all restaurants and bakeries. The bill creates the first state-wide ban of trans fats, but follows the path set out by cities like New York City and Philadelphia, which have already evicted the substance from restaurants within city limits.

Trans fats are created by pumping hydrogen into liquid oil at high temperature, a process called partial hydrogenation. The process results in an inexpensive fat that prolongs the shelf life and appearance of packaged foods and that, many fast-food restaurants say, helps make cooked food crisp and flavorful [The New York Times]. The artificial fats have been shown to increase levels of “bad” cholesterol and decrease levels of “good” cholesterol, and are therefore linked to heart disease.

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A report from an European Union agency says that while meat and milk from cloned animals appears to be safe for human consumption, more studies are needed to prove the point. While the document from the European Food Safety Authority is not the final word on the matter, it seems to indicate that European consumers won’t be chowing down on steaks from cloned cows anytime soon.

“For cattle and pigs, food safety concerns are considered unlikely. But we must acknowledge that the evidence base is still small. We would like to have a broader data base and we need further clarification” [Reuters], said an agency official. The report also said that cloning has a negative impact on the health and welfare of the animals, as clones are more likely to be born with birth defects and often die younger.

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A new study has found that countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that accepted International Monetary Fund loans in the 1990s had an  immediate increase in tuberculosis cases, and more people died from the disease. The study’s authors argue that the strict conditions of the loans, which often call for “austerity measures,” may have caused governments to slash health services, thus bringing about the surge in TB cases.

The fund strongly disputes the finding, saying the former communist countries would be much worse off without the loans. “Tuberculosis is a disease that takes time to develop,” said William Murray, a spokesman for the fund, “so presumably the increase in mortality rates must be linked to something that happened earlier than I.M.F. funding. This is just phony science” [The New York Times].

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New York City made another attempt to improve the health of its citizens yesterday, as a ban on trans fats in the city’s restaurants, cafeterias, and even hot dog and pretzel stands took full effect. Trans fat, also known as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, is linked to clogged arteries and heart disease. But restaurants have found many uses for the man-made vegetable shortenings and oils, which give pastry its flakiness and french fries their crispiness.

It’s the first such ban by a major U.S. city, and most give credit for the idea to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been on a health crusade during his tenure in office. He banned smoking in bars and restaurants during his first term…. New York restaurant chains were recently ordered to start listing calorie information on their menus [Telegraph]. The first phase of the trans fat ban took effect last year, when restaurants were ordered to stop using them in cooking oils and spreads. Now, after a short grace period, any restaurant found using any trans fats will be fined up to $2,000.

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They were starting to look like the next big thing in biotech. Personal genetics testing companies have been popping up in the last few years, offering regular citizens the chance to pay about a thousand bucks to see their own genomes. The companies say this service can give people insight into their chances of developing inherited diseases and can cast light upon their ancestry, and consumers have begun to plunk down their money.

But now there’s a hitch. Regulators in California sent “cease and desist” letters to 13 companies last week, ordering them to stop offering testing to California residents until they can prove that they have the proper clinical laboratory license, and, more importantly, that each genetics test was ordered by a doctor. The [Public Health Department] said it began investigating gene-testing companies after receiving complaints from consumers “about the accuracy and cost of genetic testing advertised on the Internet” [San Jose Mercury News].

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Three influential psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School seem to have been caught with their hands in the drug-laced cookie jar, and now they’re in big trouble. Two days after it was alleged that the three doctors failed to report a collective $4.2 million in payments from pharmaceutical companies, Harvard and the affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital have launched an investigation into the doctors’ behavior.

The scandal has revived questions about conflicts of interest within the medical profession. The three psychiatrists, Joseph Biederman, Timothy E. Wilens, and Thomas Spencer, have conducted extensive research in child psychiatry, on mental health topics including attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder and depression. They have often recommended treating young patients aggressively with medications, but they were apparently receiving large payments from the drug-makers at the same time.

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Almost 3 million AIDS patients in developing nations are now receiving treatment from the life-extending antiviral drugs, according to a new report. It sounds like good news, until you realize that the World Health Organization (WHO) had hoped to reach that milestone in 2005.

AIDS advocates say the international community was slow to commit to the monumental task of providing drugs to rural patients around the world, many of whom don’t even know that they’re infected. But in the past few years, boosted by the Bush administration’s five-year, $15 billion AIDS program and an organized international effort, the project began to have effect.

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