Males Exposed to BPA Plastic Less Attractive to Females.

[Mr S]

http://www.prostate.net/2011/environmen ... o-females/

A growing body of evidence has linked exposure to the chemical BPA (Bisphenol-A) to all manner of illness including prostate cancer and now it seems if you are exposed to BPA (if you are a male mouse that is), then your chances of attracting a female just became a lot worse.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. It is ubiquitous in the environment, found in common, everyday products. BPA is used in food and beverage containers and packaging, and the chemical leaches into the products. That means your canned beans, peas, soups, and chili have likely been exposed to BPA, as well as milk cartons and foods in plastic containers. It’s been estimated that 90 percent of people in the United States have detectable levels of BPA toxin in their bodies.

A recent study now shows that male mice who were exposed as babies to BPA act more like females and are seen as less desirable mates.

Study lead author Cheryl Rosenfeld at the University of Missouri said, “The BPA-exposed deer mice in our study look normal; there is nothing obviously wrong with them. Yet, they are clearly different.�

“Females do not want to mate with BPA-exposed male deer mice, and BPA-exposed males perform worse on spatial navigation tasks that assess their ability to find female partners in the wild,� she said.

When scientists observed how fertile females regarded the BPA males compared to the unexposed males, they found females preferred the chemical-free males by a factor of two to one.

“These findings presumably have broad implications to other species, including humans, where there are also innate differences between males and females in cognitive and behavioral patterns,� Rosenfeld said.

“Whether there are comparable health threats to humans remains unclear, but there clearly must be a concern.�

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.