Plastic water bottles are linked to heart disease, diabetes. The first major study of health effects in people from a chemical used in plastic baby bottles, food cans and a host of other products shows a connection between them and a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. People who have a higher exposure to bisphenol A or BPA have a 39-percent higher risk for those diseases, the study’s authors say. And because of the possible public health implications, the results “deserve scientific follow-up,” the scientists added. But the study is preliminary, far from proof that the chemical causes heart disease and diabetes, The Associated Press reports. Two Dartmouth College analysts of medical research said the study raises questions but provides no answers about whether the ubiquitous chemical is harmful. The findings were released Tuesday to coincide with the researchers’ presentation of their findings at a Food and Drug Administration scientific advisers’ hearing. The FDA has the power to limit use of BPA in food containers and medical devices but last month released an internal report concluding that BPA exposure is not enough to warrant action. Since then, another government agency released a separate report concluding that risks to people, in particular to infants and children, cannot be ruled out. Past animal studies have suggested reproductive and hormone-related problems from BPA. The new study is the largest to examine possible BPA effects in people and the first to suggest a direct link to heart disease, said scientists Frederick vom Saal and John Peterson Myers, both longtime critics of the chemical. Dr. Ana Soto of Tufts University said the study raises enough concerns to warrant government action to limit BPA exposure. No government action has been taken so far. However, health officials recommend that you limit your use of plastic water bottles with the number 7 on the bottom, and avoid microwaving plastic containers.

Drug war is devastating Black communities. A $45 billion policy has had devastating consequences for millions of African Americans, says a drug policy expert, who is to debate his position before a London crowd. Absent fathers, orphaned children and growing numbers of HIV and Hepatitis C infections are what some African Americans are facing due to the U.S. war on drugs. Exactly 25 years ago, former president Ronald Reagan announced his zero tolerance measure to tackle what he saw was a growing epidemic of illegal drug use in the nation. Politicians believed that millions of federal dollars should be spent on prosecuting and sentencing drug users in the hope that it would reduce drug addiction and send out the message of zero tolerance. In 2005, the Office of National Drug Control stated that the federal government has spent more than $45.5 on the war on drugs, and it appears that African Americans are facing the brunt of this no-nonsense policy, reports the Voice of London. According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15 percent of drug users but they account for 37 percent of those arrested on drug charges, and 74 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Deborah Peterson Small a former director of the Drug Policy Alliance will speak about the racism within the war on drugs policy at the conference. “The war on drugs policy has had a devastating effect on African-American communities, particularly poor communities that already suffer from a whole host of economic and social problems,” she said. Pointing to prison sentencing, Small, a New Yorker, says the mandatory-minimum-sentence policy for low-level drug offences subjects people who are low-level participants to the same or harsher sentences as major drug dealers. Currently, crack cocaine is the only drug for which the first offense of simple possession can trigger a federal mandatory-minimum sentence. Possessing 5 grams of crack with a street value of $1,000 carries an automatic five-year jail sentence. Despite the high rate of African-American drug convictions, a recently released report by Human Rights Watch, found that African Americans are not the greatest users of drugs. According to Jamie Fellner, author of the report, Whites are more likely to be drug users.

 Vigorous Exercise helps those with “fat gene.” Physical activity may reduce the risk of obesity in people with a genetic mutation that predisposes them to high body-mass index (BMI), says a U.S. study released Monday. Recent research has shown a link between BMI and variants of the fat mass and obesity associated with the FTO gene, reports HealthDay. The mutations connected with obesity occur are associated with a 3.9-pound increase in body weight, according to background information in the study. While lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise are important factors in weight control, it’s not exactly clear how they interact with genetics. In this study, researchers analyzed DNA samples from 704 healthy Amish adults, average age 43.6, and also conducted a series of physiological tests on the participants, including recording their physical activity over a seven-day period. Those in the “high-activity” group burned about 900 calories (860 for women) more than those in the “low activity” group, the researchers wrote. “High activity” amounted to three to four hours of moderate intensity physical activity such as brisk walking, housecleaning or gardening, the researchers wrote.

Exposure could affect prostate and brain of babies.
Plastic baby bottles cause more concern.  Baby bottles made of a certain plastic are causing “some concern” among government scientists, according to a new report. Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in many polycarbonate plastics, such as those used to make some plastic water and baby bottles, is a problem because of the effect it could have on the development of the prostate gland, brain and behavior effects in fetuses, infants and children, according to the final report released Monday by the National Toxicology Program. Scientists with the program have concluded that BPA has the potential to cause harm to human reproduction or development. They base their findings primarily on a review of scientific information on BPA. But the scientists warn that the results are not conclusive. “There remains considerable uncertainty whether the changes seen in the animal studies are directly applicable to humans, and whether they would result in clear adverse health effects,” said NTP Associate Director John Bucher, Ph.D. “But we have concluded that the possibility that BPA may affect human development cannot be dismissed.”

Plastic baby bottles cause more concern.  Baby bottles made of a certain plastic are causing “some concern” among government scientists, according to a new report. Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in many polycarbonate plastics, such as those used to make some plastic water and baby bottles, is a problem because of the effect it could have on the development of the prostate gland, brain and behavior effects in fetuses, infants and children, according to the final report released Monday by the National Toxicology Program. Scientists with the program have concluded that BPA has the potential to cause harm to human reproduction or development. They base their findings primarily on a review of scientific information on BPA. But the scientists warn that the results are not conclusive. “There remains considerable uncertainty whether the changes seen in the animal studies are directly applicable to humans, and whether they would result in clear adverse health effects,” said NTP Associate Director John Bucher, Ph.D. “But we have concluded that the possibility that BPA may affect human development cannot be dismissed.”

Here’s yet another reason to catch those Zzzzs.
Sleepless teens risk high blood pressure. Teens who don’t get enough sleep or have poor-quality sleep run the risk of elevated blood pressure, a new study finds. It’s the first study to make such a connection, said the study’s senior author, Dr. Susan Redline, director of the University Hospitals Sleep Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. “In adults, there has been evidence that less than six hours of sleep a night was associated with high blood pressure levels,” said Redline, who is professor of medicine and pediatrics at Case Western Reserve. “No study has been done in adolescents.” Redline and her colleagues studied 238 boys and girls, ages 13 to 16, asking about their sleep habits. They found that 11 percent of them slept less than 6.5 hours a night, and 26 percent had poor “sleep efficiency,” with frequent awakenings at night. One of every seven teens in the study had either hypertension, which is high blood pressure, greater than 120 over 80, or borderline high blood pressure called pre-hypertension. Teens with less than 85 percent sleep efficiency had nearly three times the odds of high blood pressure, the researchers reported. “That was one of the more unique findings, that poor sleep quality is associated with high blood pressure,” Redline said.

Don’t drink too much Red Bull. Too much of a good thing isn’t always good, scientists in Australia found. Too much of the popular Red Bull energy drink may lead to heart damage, they say, after studying 30 university students, ages 20 to 24. The researchers found that drinking just one 250 ml sugar-free can of the caffeinated drink boosted the “stickiness” of the blood and increased the risk of blood clots. After drinking Red Bull, the students had a cardiovascular profile similar to that of someone with heart disease, The Times of London reported. The results were alarming and suggest that older adults with symptoms of heart disease shouldn’t drink too much Red Bull, said study author Scott Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Adelaide University. In a statement, Red Bull officials said the drink had been proved safe by numerous scientific studies, and that it had never been banned from anywhere it had been introduced, the Times reported. Red Bull is sold in 143 countries but is banned in Norway, Denmark and some other countries due to health concerns.

Chemical used in baby bottles is safe. A chemical used in the making of baby bottles and other food containers is not dangerous, U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers have decided. FDA scientists have confirmed the agency’s original decision that the chemical bisphenol A, which hardens plastic, is not a threat to either infants or adults. The European Food Safety Authority made a similar finding in late July. Trace amounts of bisphenol A have been found to leach into food containers, the FDA acknowledged, but the agency’s scientists said they found no evidence that such small amounts were harmful, The Associated Press reports. The FDA findings are not the final word, according to AP. A September meeting is scheduled, at which experts outside the FDA will debate bisphenol A’s safety. The FDA itself has kept the issue open. More research is needed because “there are always uncertainties associated with safety decisions,” AP quotes the FDA as saying.