Bisphenol-A: UNC Study Regarding Early Childhood Behaviour Drawing Plenty of Press

A University of North Carolia study examining the link between exposure to Bisphenol A ("BPA") during pregnancy and early childhood behaviour has drawn a fair amount of press (including an October 6th Canadian Press article and an October 7th article in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel). The study (published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives) examined BPA levels in urine samples from 249 pregnant women in Cincinnati at 16 and 26 weeks pregnancy, and again at birth. This is the first study to examine the association between prenatal BPA exposure and childhood behavior. The study concluded that there was no association between mean urinary BPA concentrations and behavior scores among all children. However, it did conclude that there was an association between mean prenatal BPA concentrations and externalizing behavioural scores in females (but not boys). The American Chemistry Council put out a press statement in reply (found here) stating that there are significant limitations in the study design, in part due to the small size of the study group and the failure to assess other causes of behavioural issues.