Mar 1, 2011
Maine Governor LePage Trivializes BPA Health Risks with "Little Beards" Comment
By Larry West, About.com Guide since 2005
Wednesday February 23, 2011
With one quick quip, Maine Governor Paul LePage recently dismissed both scientific claims and consumer concerns about the dangers of bisphenol A (BPA), the controversial chemical that is commonly used as an additive in many consumer products--from baby bottles to the lining in canned food and beverages to the coating on cash-register and credit-card receipts.
Rejecting research findings that BPA, an endocrine disruptor, can lead to serious health issues such as heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities in adults as well as brain and hormone development problems in fetuses and young children, LePage said last week that there is no reason to consider a ban on BPA because, at worst, exposure to the chemical would cause some women to grow "little beards."
"Quite frankly, the science that I'm looking at says there is no [problem]," said LePage, who last month offended many people when he told the NAACP to "kiss my butt" in response to a Martin Luther King Day invitation,. "There hasn't been any science that identifies that there is a problem."
"The only thing that I've heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen," LePage added. "So the worst case is some women may have little beards."
LePage's reassurances that his reading of BPA research shows no evidence of health risks would be more believable if his statement didn't reveal such ignorance of basic science.
BPA mimics estrogen, a natural female hormone, and fools the body by stimulating reactions that are unnecessary and potentially harmful. But causing women to grow "little beards" isn't one of them.
Excess facial hair, or hirsutism, in women is caused when their male hormone levels are significantly higher than their female hormone levels. BPA might create a semblance of too much female hormone, but would not create the conditions required for "little beards" to grow.
LePage's comments were a response to current debate in the Maine legislature about whether to ban or restrict products that contain BPA. Such bans have already been implemented in eight U.S. states, Canada and the European Union, often because of concerns about the health risks for children, who are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of endocrine disruptors. Last year, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection recommended banning the sale of reusable food and beverage containers containing BPA, starting in 2012, which sparked the current discussion among Maine lawmakers.
LePage isn't alone in believing there is no need for an outright ban on BPA--both the World Health Organization and the European Food Safety Authority have indicated that a ban on BPA would be premature--but it is irresponsible for LePage to claim that there is no scientific evidence of possible health risks from BPA.
"BPA is one of the most well-studied chemicals, and it is just ludicrous to ignore the science," said Susan Shaw, a toxicologist at the Marine Environmental Research Institute, in an interview with the Bangor Daily News following LePage's comments. Shaw, who has been studying the effects of toxics on humans and animals for more than three decades, added: "There is a large body of evidence about the hazards of BPA that is irrefutable."
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Rejecting research findings that BPA, an endocrine disruptor, can lead to serious health issues such as heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities in adults as well as brain and hormone development problems in fetuses and young children, LePage said last week that there is no reason to consider a ban on BPA because, at worst, exposure to the chemical would cause some women to grow "little beards."
"Quite frankly, the science that I'm looking at says there is no [problem]," said LePage, who last month offended many people when he told the NAACP to "kiss my butt" in response to a Martin Luther King Day invitation,. "There hasn't been any science that identifies that there is a problem."
"The only thing that I've heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen," LePage added. "So the worst case is some women may have little beards."
LePage's reassurances that his reading of BPA research shows no evidence of health risks would be more believable if his statement didn't reveal such ignorance of basic science.
BPA mimics estrogen, a natural female hormone, and fools the body by stimulating reactions that are unnecessary and potentially harmful. But causing women to grow "little beards" isn't one of them.
Excess facial hair, or hirsutism, in women is caused when their male hormone levels are significantly higher than their female hormone levels. BPA might create a semblance of too much female hormone, but would not create the conditions required for "little beards" to grow.
LePage's comments were a response to current debate in the Maine legislature about whether to ban or restrict products that contain BPA. Such bans have already been implemented in eight U.S. states, Canada and the European Union, often because of concerns about the health risks for children, who are more vulnerable than adults to the effects of endocrine disruptors. Last year, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection recommended banning the sale of reusable food and beverage containers containing BPA, starting in 2012, which sparked the current discussion among Maine lawmakers.
LePage isn't alone in believing there is no need for an outright ban on BPA--both the World Health Organization and the European Food Safety Authority have indicated that a ban on BPA would be premature--but it is irresponsible for LePage to claim that there is no scientific evidence of possible health risks from BPA.
"BPA is one of the most well-studied chemicals, and it is just ludicrous to ignore the science," said Susan Shaw, a toxicologist at the Marine Environmental Research Institute, in an interview with the Bangor Daily News following LePage's comments. Shaw, who has been studying the effects of toxics on humans and animals for more than three decades, added: "There is a large body of evidence about the hazards of BPA that is irrefutable."
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