BPA may hurt women's eggs

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Bisphenol A -- used to make plastic hard and line metal food and beverage cans -- may be harming women's eggs, U.S. researchers suggest.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, say the evidence links exposure to the chemical to lower quality eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization.

The study, published online in Fertility and Sterility, found as blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs fertilized normally declined by 50 percent.

"While preliminary, the data indicate the negative effect of BPA on reproductive health and the importance of allocating more funding to further investigate why such environmental contaminants might be disrupting fertility potential," Dr. Victor Fujimoto, the lead study author, said in statement.

Fujimoto and colleagues tested 26 women undergoing in vitro fertilization who were part of a larger study of the effect of toxic metals.

The researchers noted BPA -- found in the urine of nearly everyone tested in a 2004 U.S. analysis -- is an endocrine disruptor that either mimics or blocks body hormones.