A new study published online on November 21, 2014 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) investigates the extent of exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan (TCS) in pregnant Canadian women. Arbuckle and colleagues point out that BPA and TCS were previously measured in urine samples from the general population. However, they especially investigated equivalent data for pregnant women due to the potential health concerns of fetal and maternal exposures to BPA and TCS. The authors further stress that the free form of these phenols may be toxicologically more potent compared to their conjugated form. Therefore, they measured concentrations of both free and conjugated forms of the two phenols in about 1890 first trimester urine samples from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) cohort. The conjugated metabolites of BPA and TCS were both found in more than 95% of the samples. The free forms of BPA and TCS were detected in 43% and 80% of samples, respectively. Elevated urinary concentrations for TCS were associated with higher maternal age, non-smokers, and high household income and education level, while the opposite was found for BPA. The authors conclude that the collected data will play an important role in risk assessment of these chemicals.
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Arbuckle, T.E. (2014). “Exposure to free and conjugated forms of bisphenol A and triclosan among pregnant women in the MIREC cohort.” Environmental Health Perspectives (published online on November 21, 2014)
