Government Study Of BPA Backs Its Safety, But Doesn't Settle Debate

Government scientists have presented new evidence that the plastic additive BPA isn't a health threat. Low doses of the chemical given to hundreds of rats, "did not elicit clear, biologically plausible adverse effects," said K. Barry Delclos, a research pharmacologist at the Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicological Research. Delclos made the remarks Thursday during an online presentation in which he summarized an important part of a $30 million project called CLARITY-BPA , which was launched in 2012 to resolve questions about the chemical's safety. The results of the rat study had previously appeared in a draft report on BPA (also known as bisphenol-A) released in February. But since then, the research has undergone peer review and revisions, Delclos said. During his online presentation, Delclos provided an overview of the two-year study, which involved thousands of rats given a wide range of BPA doses. Rats that got at least a thousand times more BPA than