 Recent human studies indicate that exposure to the plastics chemical BPA may be associated with infertility, miscarriage, premature delivery, reduced male sexual function, polycystic ovaries, altered thyroid and immune function diabetes, heart disease, and on down the list. Yet as recently as March 2012, FDA stated that low levels of BPA in food are considered safe, but months later to their credit, the agency banned the use of BPA plastics in baby bottles and sippy cups. Wow, regulators, standing up to industry, maybe I shouldn't be so cynical. Oh wait, the ban was at the behest of the plastics industry. They had already stopped using BPA in baby bottles, so ban away. It was their idea. What they did is switch from BPA to similar compounds like BPF and BPS. And so now our diet contains everything from BPA to BPC. So now the majority of us have these new chemicals in our bodies as well. Are they any safer? Well, based on the similarities of their chemical structures, they're all predicted to affect testosterone production and estrogen receptor activity, but only recently were they put to the test. We've known BPA significantly suppresses testosterone production. And now we know so does BPS and BPF, the first report describing adverse effects on a physiologic function in humans. Well, kinda. These were experiments performed on the testicles of aborted human fetuses. But bottom line, BPS and BPF seem to have similar anti-androgenic, meaning anti-male hormone effects to BPA. So when you're assured that don't worry your sales slip at the store was BPA free, it may be just BPS instead. And BPS receipts may contain up to 40% more BPS than it would have had BPA, so BPA free could be even worse. In fact, all BPA replacement products tested to date release chemicals having reliably detectable estrogenic activity. And this includes Triton, which is specifically marketed as being estrogen activity free, but drip an extract on human breast cancer cells in Petri dish and you can accelerate their growth, an effect that's abolished by an estrogen blocker, as you can see in the red lines. Now this was after exposing them to simulated sunlight. Only one out of three Triton products showed estrogen activity in an unstressed state, not exposed to microwaving heat or UV rays. Because there would be no value in trading one health hazard for another, we should urgently focus on the human health risk assessment of all these BPA substitutes. In the meanwhile, there are steps we can take to limit our exposure. We can reduce our use of polycarbonate plastics, which are usually labeled with recycle codes 3 or 7, and opt for fresh and frozen food over canned goods, especially tuna and condensed soups. Canned fruit consumption didn't seem to matter, but weekly canned vegetable consumption was associated with increased BPA exposure. If you do use plastics, don't microwave them. Don't put them in the dishwasher. Don't leave them in the sun or a hot car, and don't use once scratched. But using glass, ceramic, or stainless steel containers are probably best.