By Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Posted: Tuesday, November 6, 2007

LETTER
Publication Date: November 6, 2007

This edited version of a letter from Ross to USA Today appeared on November 6, 2007:

 

I felt that the article "'Everywhere chemicals' in plastics alarm parents" is alarmist.

This article is another example of the "mounting evidence" that chemicals may cause endocrine disruption. Based upon what evidence? Rat studies using extremely high doses? What about the fact that chemical companies have said these substances have been used safely for decades? Where is the evidence that a human being has been harmed by bisphenol A or phthalates, a group of chemicals that makes plastics pliable? Yet activists whose careers have been devoted to attacking chemicals continue to call for their elimination. I find it amazing that a new mother would believe that plastic baby bottles pose a greater hazard than glass ones. Merely detecting a chemical in our bodies does not make it harmful.


Gilbert Ross, M.D.
Medical and Executive Director
American Council on Science and Health