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I vividly recall when I was pregnant and preparing for my first child, and I became aware of the push to avoid baby bottles and other consumer projects that contained the industrial chemical BPA. As a soon-to-be new mother, I felt overwhelmed at how difficult it was to know whether the products I was buying would be safe for my child.
That was 15 years ago, and it’s stunning to look back on how little has changed. Many plastic products have been marketed as BPA-free over the last decade, but unfortunately studies have shown that BPA alternatives are not necessarily any safer. And BPA is still ubiquitous in everyday consumer products. The main thing that’s changed over the last 15 years is that researchers now know far more about the chemical’s potentially detrimental effects on human health.
Now, in response to petitions and pressure from advocacy groups, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to reassess BPA’s health effects.
Tracey Woodruff, an expert on the link between environmental pollution and reproductive health at the University of California, San Francisco, details the deep and ever-growing body of evidence documenting BPA’s ability to interfere with reproductive processes, fetal and child development, metabolism and more.
Also today:
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Amanda Mascarelli
Senior Health and Medicine Editor
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The chemical BPA has been shown to leach from food packaging products into our bodies.
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Tracey Woodruff, University of California, San Francisco
Due to increasing concerns over the health hazards posed by BPA, the Food and Drug Administration plans to reevaluate the safety of the controversial chemical for use in everyday products.
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Politics + Society
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Jessica Maddox, University of Alabama
Today’s media landscape is a far cry from the days of Watergate. A media scholar looks at the challenge the Jan. 6 committee faces in getting the hearings to break through in the age of TikTok.
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Agustin Lao-Montes, UMass Amherst
Colombians go to the polls on June 19 to elect a new president. The vote comes at a delicate time in the country’s politics.
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Anil Menon, University of Michigan; Pauline Jones, University of Michigan
History brought Ukraine’s plight home to people around the world, and helped mobilize political and military support against the Russian invasion.
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Rachel Gevlin, Birmingham-Southern College
Intimate details of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s marriage – including sex abuse – featured during their defamation trial. There’s a long history of popular trials showcasing relationships gone bad.
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Ethics + Religion
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Gloria Falcão Dodd, University of Dayton
The Catholic Church considers St. Joseph a role model of fatherhood and faith. In many countries, Father’s Day is celebrated on his feast day.
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Economy + Business
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Vidhura S Tennekoon, IUPUI
US stocks recently entered a bear market as investors grow pessimistic the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation while avoiding a recession.
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Science + Technology
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Tom Anchordoquy, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
From tablets and patches to ointments and infusions, the best way to deliver a drug is the one that gets the right amount to the right place.
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Marc Zimmer, Connecticut College
The AI AlphaFold can figure out the three-dimensional protein structure any string of amino acids will become. It has now exceeded its training by figuring out what makes some proteins glow.
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Arts + Culture
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Julian C. Chambliss, Michigan State University
Even though Afrofuturist works are set in fictional worlds, they provide a blueprint for social, political and economic systems free from exploitation and oppression.
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Podcast 🎙️
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation
New discoveries keep changing our understanding of what dinosaurs looked like. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
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From our international editions
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