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| Credit:www.pediatricurology.in |
BPA
is banned in products such as baby bottles and sippy cups, but the chemical
continues to be used in many other consumer products. The most prominent
continuing use of BPA is in the lining of aluminum and tin cans, where it
prevents corrosion.
A
new study links foetal exposure to a common chemical pollutant, bisphenol A(BPA), to defects of a testicular hormone in new-borns with undescended testicles.
Cryptorchidism,
the medical name for undescended testicles, occurs in 2 to 5 percent of
full-term male newborns, according to the authors.
Sometimes
the testicles descend on their own within six months after birth otherwise surgery
is required to bring the testes out of the abdominal cavity. Untreated, it
carries an increased risk in adulthood of decreased fertility and testicular
cancer.
The
findings do not draw a direct link between BPA and cryptorchidism, as the
newborns with undescended testicles did not have greatly increased levels of
BPA compared with newborns without the birth defect.
Researchers
found, however, that the BPA level in newborns' cord blood inversely correlated
with the level of INSL3. That is, the higher the BPA level, the lower the level
of the important testicular hormone.
"Alone,
our study cannot be considered as definitive evidence for an environmental
cause of undescended testis," said lead author Patrick Fenichel, MD, PhD,
professor and head of reproductive endocrinology at the University Hospital of
Nice in France. "But it suggests, for the first time in humans, a link
that could contribute to one co-factor of idiopathic [unexplained] undescended
testis, the most frequent congenital malformation in male newborns."
Research
is needed to study exposure to BPA during pregnancy.
###
The
above story is based on the June 17, 2013 news release by Endocrine Society.
The results of the study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
More information
To
learn more about BPA, visit the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
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