Scientific Panel Downplays Risk of Widely Used Chemical

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A government scientific advisory panel on Wednesday downplayed the risk to humans from bisphenol A, a widely used hormone-mimicking chemical that a private panel of experts only last week called a "great cause for concern."

A 12-member panel convened to advise the National Toxicology Program said it had "minimal" and "negligible" concerns about most of the ways humans are exposed to the chemical, which is also known as BPA.

On the basis of a handful of studies, the panel called for additional research on whether mice that are exposed to relatively low levels of BPA as fetuses may develop behavioral changes, including some associated with sexual orientation.

Over 6 million pounds of BPA are produced annually for use in plastic food containers, baby bottles, soft drink cans and many other consumer products.

The government panel's conclusions, which followed two and a half days of meetings to discuss scientific studies, will be reviewed by other scientists and eventually used by the National Toxicology Program to issue recommendations to government regulatory agencies.

The findings were hailed by a representative of the chemical industry.

"I think this panel expressed the clear view that there are very minimal concerns about the safety of this chemical," said Steven Hentges, a spokesman for the chemical industry trade group American Chemistry Council.

Environmentalists and some scientists said the National Toxicology Program panel ignored significant scientific findings.

"The panel ignored a large body of independent, peer-reviewed scientific research endorsed by the world's leading experts on the impacts of BPA exposure," said Dr. Anila Jacob, a physician on the staff of the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization.

She said the original draft of the panel's report, written by a private contractor who since has been fired for conflict of interest, was an "error-riddled, industry-influenced" document.

Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri at Columbia biologist, said he did not think the report would "pass muster" when it is subjected to review by other scientists because a large group of scientific studies were excluded.

Vom Saal chaired an independent panel of 37 international scientists who warned last week that BPA is present in blood of most humans at levels shown to cause a wide variety of disorders in laboratory animals.

The independent panel said BPA may play a role in "prostate and breast cancer, uro-genital abnormalities in male babies, a decline in semen quality in men, early onset of puberty in girls, metabolic disorders including insulin-resistant (type 2) diabetes and obesity, and neurobehavioral problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder."

Following the close of the government panel's deliberations Wednesday, its chairman, Pfizer Inc. official Robert E. Chapin, declined to comment on differences between the two reports, saying he had not fully read the other group's conclusions.