Authors

Letty Guerra

Class Year

2006

Document Type

Feature

Publication Date

Spring 2006

Abstract

An ongoing concern in the scientific community is the effect of prenatal and childhood exposure to BPA and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals (“EDCs”). The relation of these chemicals to “abnormalities in human sexuality, gender development and behaviors, reproductive capabilities, and sex ratios” is a major distress among scientists. Although high-level exposure to EDCs clearly has gender-related effects on human development, today’s debate centers around low-dose exposures, “generally defined as doses that approximate environmentally relevant levels.” BPA studies have demonstrated that exposure at quantities lower than the EPA’s reference dose has detrimental effects on fetal development. Additionally, the possibility that harmful effects from exposure to EDCs can be passed down through generations is extremely alarming.

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