Page 379 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

struggled with the fact that traditional research methods are
not geared to test hormone-mimicking substances that exert
effects at low doses. Indeed, dealing with substances like BPA
is forcing us toward a challenging paradigm shift in the way we
assess environmental health risks.
For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
announced in 2008 that it saw no reason to regulate BPA, but
its own science advisory committee disagreed, and in 2009
the FDA decided to start a testing program. Soon afterwards,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it Figure 14.1 Bisphenol A is in many of the foods we eat.
would begin its own assessment. Researchers for Consumer Reports magazine tested common
In 2008 Canada banned the use of BPA in baby bottles packaged foods and more in 2009; they found that nearly all of
and in 2010 became the first nation to declare bisphenol A them contained bisphenol A that had leached from the linings of
toxic. The use of BPA in products for babies was banned in their containers.
France and Denmark in 2010, and in 2011 a ban on BPA in
baby bottles was adopted across the entire European Union. As of 2013, concerned parents can now more easily find
Turkey has issued a similar ban, and several U.S. states and BPA-free items for their infants and children. The rest of us
municipalities have also taken action. remain exposed through most food cans, many drink con-
In 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council peti- tainers, and thousands of other products (Figure 14.1). But
tioned the FDA to ban the use of BPA in food packaging, citing despite the lack of government regulation, food producers are
studies showing adverse health impacts on humans. Health responding to consumer concerns about the safety of BPA.
advocates were shocked and disappointed when, in 2012, Shortly after the 2011 publication of a study showing consum-
the FDA rejected the proposed ban, stating that there was no ers of canned soups had urinary BPA concentrations over
compelling scientific evidence to justify new restrictions. Mere 1200 times higher than consumers of fresh soups, Campbell’s
days later, the government of Sweden came to a different con- Soup announced that it is transitioning away from the use of
clusion from the FDA and announced it would ban the use of BPA in its can liners. Food giants ConAgra, Nestle, and Heinz
BPA in the packaging of food intended for children under the have also pledged to remove BPA from food packaging. There
age of 3 (such as the lids of baby food bottles). is precedent for such efforts, as BPA was voluntarily phased
In the face of mounting public concern, many companies out of can liners in Japan starting in the late 1990s.
are choosing to voluntarily remove BPA from their products. The Bisphenol A is by no means one of our greatest environ-
six major U.S. manufacturers of plastic baby bottles promised mental health threats. However, it provides a timely example
in 2008 to stop using BPA. Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us decided of how we as a society assess health risks and decide how
to stop carrying children’s products with BPA. The manufacturer to manage them. As scientists and government regulators
Sunoco stopped selling BPA to companies that use it in chil- assess BPA’s potential risks, their efforts give us a window on
dren’s products. After these actions, the FDA finally banned the how hormone-disrupting chemicals are challenging the way we
use of BPA in baby bottles and children’s cups in 2012. appraise and control the environmental health risks we face.

Environmental Health is also some amount of risk that we can avoid by taking pre-
cautions. Much of environmental health consists of taking
Examining the impacts of human-made chemicals such as bis- steps to minimize the risks of encountering hazards and to
phenol A is just one aspect of the broad field of environmen- mitigate the impacts of the hazards we do encounter.
tal health. The study and practice of environmental health
assesses environmental factors that influence our health and Physical hazards Physical hazards arise from processes
quality of life. These factors include wholly natural aspects that occur naturally in our environment and pose risks to
of the environment over which we have little or no control, human life or health. Some such physical processes are ongo-
as well as anthropogenic (human-caused) factors. Practition- ing natural phenomena, such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation
ers of environmental health seek to prevent adverse effects on from sunlight (Figure 14.2a). Excessive exposure to UV radia-
human health and on the ecological systems that are essential tion damages DNA and has been tied to skin cancer, cataracts,
to our well-being. and immune suppression. We can reduce our exposure to and
risk from UV light by using clothing and sunscreen to shield
our skin from intense sunlight.
We face four types of environmental Other physical hazards include discrete events such as
hazards earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, blizzards, land-
slides, hurricanes, and droughts. We can do little to predict
Many environmental health hazards exist in the world around the timing of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, and
us. We can categorize them into four main types: physical, nothing to prevent one. However, we can minimize risk by
chemical, biological, and cultural. For each type of hazard, preparing ourselves. Scientists can map geologic faults to
378 there is some amount of risk that we cannot avoid—but there determine areas at risk of earthquakes, engineers can design

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