Community Corner

Could BPA-Free Still Mean Hormone Chemicals in Plastics?

A plastics company is suing researchers who said estrogen-like chemicals were found in water bottles marketed as BPA-free.

Just when you thought your collection of BPA-free bottles were safe, a federal court in Austin, TX is set to rule on whether findings that non-BPA plastics could still contain estrogen-like chemicals is accurate, NPR reported.

Eastman Chemical, a Kingsport, TN-based company that creates a line of water bottles marketed as BPA-free, has sued a pair of Austin-based companies for publishing studies that found chemicals that act like the female sex hormone estrogen in non-BPA plastics, according to NPR.

Bisphenol A, a chemical used in the creation of plastic commonly known as BPA, fell out of favor when it was shown to contain chemicals that were similar to estrogen, which can disrupt the structure of human cells and impact babies and kids when they are exposed to it, USA Today reported.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

George D. Bittner, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin and owner of the two companies being sued, published his findings in a 2011 edition of Environmental Health Perspectives, USA Today reported. Bittner said he found most plastics—between 70 and 95 percent—contain chemicals with “estrogenic activity,” regardless of whether they contained BPA.

"Although BPA [bisphenol A] is the most notorious chemical with estrogenic activity used in plastics, it is not the only one, nor does it have the highest biological effect," Bittner told Chemical & Engineering News, according to USA Today.

Find out what's happening in Kensingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A vice president of Eastman Chemical told NPR last year that Bittner’s study produced false positives, but Bittner told the news organization that a second test was done to rule out those results.

What do you think: Have reports about hormone-like chemicals in plastics affected what you buy? If the results of this study are upheld in court, would that change anything for you?


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here