New concerns over BPA as workers exposed to levels 70 times the average

Health concerns over Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical commonly found in plastic packaging and the lining of food cans, are well documented. Previous studies have linked low levels of BPA to a variety of potential health issues, including obesity, diabetes and fertility problems. A 2008 ruling by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) found that low exposure to the chemical is safe because it is generally ingested orally and thus eliminated from the body quickly, although research is ongoing to determine the chemical’s impact on human hormones.

However, a new study – the first of its kind in the US – has looked at the exposure levels of people who come into contact with high doses of BPA, and found that employees who directly handle the plasticizing chemical had urine levels of BPA around 70 times greater than that of the average US adult.

The federal study, carried out by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh), looked at BPA levels in the urine of 78 American manufacturing workers employed at six companies that either manufacture BPA or use it to make other products.

BPA is used in the production of plastic food containers, the lining of food and soda cans, and in thermal receipt paper. Because of the ubiquity of BPA in food containers, and its ability to leach into food or drink, the estrogen-mimicking chemical can be found in the urine of most of the US population. In addition to finding it in urine, studies have found the chemical in breast milk and umbilical cord blood. BPA was originally researched as a potential source of synthetic estrogen before its current use in plastic manufacturing.

“The Niosh study is a wake-up call about the dangers of workplace exposure to BPA,” says Noah Sachs, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and director of the Merhige Center for Environmental Studies. “Every company that manufacturers BPA or uses it as a raw material has a responsibility to workers to prevent such excessive BPA exposures. Business-as-usual is putting BPA workers at risk.”

Studies surrounding the long term effects of BPA on health and reproduction have previously centered on consumer exposure. Pressure from consumer advocates led to manufacturers voluntarily removing the chemical from baby bottles and sippy cups in the US. The FDA eventually also banned it from baby formula packaging. Outside the US, a law prohibiting the use of BPA in food packaging of any kind went into effect in France in 2015. The US has attempted to pass similar legislation outlawing the use of BPA in all food containers, most recently with the introduction of the Ban Poisonous Additives Act of 2016.

While the Niosh study highlights the high levels of BPA found in US manufacturing workers, it does not assess any potential health effects from that exposure.
Previous studies in Chinese manufacturing workers, who had similar levels of BPA in their urine to the workers in the Niosh study, found that male employees who handled BPA had lower levels of testosterone, decreased semen quality and higher levels of self-reported sexual dysfunction.

While the Niosh study raises serious concerns, before there are any policy changes, regulatory bodies will require more research with a larger pool of subjects to show the consequences of BPA exposure in manufacturing workers, explained Lori Hoepner, assistant professor at Suny Downstate Medical Center School of Public Health.

Currently, the Occupational Safety and Health Association (Osha) does not set any workplace exposure limit for BPA. Without Osha exposure limits for the chemical, manufacturing workers who are concerned by their exposure to BPA don’t have any real recourse when to avoiding the chemical on the job. “Workers could request reassignment or more protective BPA handling equipment, but they could face retaliation or getting fired,” says Sachs.

To help convince Osha of the potential dangers of BPA exposure for manufacturing workers, a longitudinal study showing the impact of the endocrine disrupting chemical over time would be needed. But longitudinal studies are notoriously expensive and getting manufacturers to agree to the studies would be difficult, explains Hoepner. For example, collecting urine samples multiple times during the workday, as in the Niosh study, is disruptive for companies.

Any kind of policy change from Osha will take years, says Sachs. “We know from past experience that an Osha rulemaking to set a permissible exposure limit can often take five to seven years, with industry challenging it every step of the way.”

Ideally, Osha should initiate that rule making on its own because it is obligated by law to set a standard that assures, to the extent feasible, no “material impairment” of worker health, even if a worker is exposed to that substance for a lifetime.

While there may not be enough evidence yet for Osha to set limits for worker exposure to BPA, amid growing consumer concern over the chemical, scientists and manufacturers have explored alternatives. BPA substitutes like bisphenol F (BPF) and Bisphenol S (BPS) have been used in plastics that are labeled BPA-free to appeal to consumers. “BPA free is a misnomer,” explains Hoepner. “It should really say BPA substitute.” BPF and BPS are very similar in terms of chemical structure to BPA and there are indicators that they may have similar health effects.

Another alternative that has been studied by scientists is using plastic made from plants. “Studies have determined that it is possible to economically and beneficially switch to plant-based plastic,” Hoepner says. “It costs a lot at the start to make the switch but it pays for itself over time.”

Because of the large economic investment needed to make the switch, companies have been reticent to switch their plastic production. But as companies continue to face pressure to switch away from BPA, and consumers become more savvy and discerning about their plastic consumption, manufactures may eventually make the switch as a way to appeal to customers.

For now, there are no new guidelines around BPA exposure for manufacturing workers around the corner, though Sachs is hopeful that the Niosh study will prompt advocates to file petitions with Osha to set permissible exposure limits for BPA.

But, when it comes to any immediate changes, Sachs warns: “I’m not optimistic about any new BPA regulations under the Trump administration, which has already shown that it disregards scientific conclusions.”

New concerns over BPA as workers exposed to levels 70 times the average

Car parking charges at hospitals in England rises average 15% since 2014

A third of hospital trusts in England have increased their car parking charges in the last year, figures show.

Some are now charging as much as £4 for a one-hour stay, with a third increasing their average charge over a three-hour period.

The analysis, by the Press Association, includes figures obtained directly from NHS trusts and data submitted to NHS Digital.

The NHS Digital data suggests a 15% average rise in parking charges across trusts in England between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

Some trusts allow patients and visitors to park for free for the first 30 minutes before charges kick in but others have scrapped a one- or two-hour charge, meaning people have to pay a flat fee for three hours even if they stay for less than that.

The most expensive trust in the country for a one-hour stay is the Royal Surrey county hospital in Guildford, where patients pay £4 for any stay up to two hours. It does have a few bays where people can park for 20 minutes before being charged.

Hereford county hospital lets people park for free for 10 minutes, but then charges £3.50 for an hour and £5 for two hours.

Meanwhile, London’s Royal Free hospital charges a flat rate of £3 an hour.

Of the 209 hospital trusts that reported figures to NHS Digital for both 2014/15 and 2015/16, a third (69 trusts) showed an increase in their average hourly charge when calculated across three hours.

126 (60%) showed no change over the year while 14 (7%) showed a decrease.

Among those trusts that have hiked up parking charges in 2016 are the Royal Surrey, where the cost of an hour has doubled from £2 in 2013 to £4.

Stockport NHS foundation trust increased its prices by about 40% over the summer.

The cost of a four-hour stay at the town’s Stepping Hill hospital rose from £6 to £8, with a short stay rising from £2.50 to £3.50.

England is the only part of the UK where hospitals routinely charge patients and visitors for parking. Almost four out of 10 (38%) NHS trusts said they also charged for disabled parking.

Laura Keely, campaigns manager at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “Cancer patients often need to make frequent trips to hospital. They should not be left out of pocket in order to receive life-saving treatment.

“Public transport is not always an option as cancer patients can have an increased risk of infection because treatment has compromised their immune system. Treatments can also leave patients feeling tired, sick and weak, so they have little choice but to travel by car.

“Car parking is free at most hospitals in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales but not across all hospitals in England. Those in charge of hospital car parking have a responsibility to ensure that their schemes work for vulnerable people, such as those living with cancer.”

At the other end of the scale, car parking at Trafford general hospital in Greater Manchester is free for up to three hours.

Alder Hey children’s NHS foundation trust charges £2 a day and the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester charges £1.50 a day. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre on the Wirral offers free parking.

Some NHS trusts offer concessions to people visiting someone who is terminally ill, and also discounts or weekly tickets for lengthy courses of treatment.

Last December, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Press Association revealed that some NHS trusts are making more than £3m a year from car parking fees.

Of more than 90 trusts that responded to the FoI request, half are making at least £1m a year.

Seven NHS trusts earned more than £3m in 2014/15 from charges, a further eight made more than £2m a year while a further 33 earned more than £1m a year.

Royal Surrey had a deficit of more than £11m at the end of March, against a forecast of £2m. It has blamed several factors including increasingly expensive agency staff. It said it was expanding its car park capacity by 100 spaces due to increased demand. A £10m multi-storey is planned to create a long-term solution, it said.

Deputy chief executive Alf Turner said: “I do not like having to charge people for car parking and in an ideal world we would not have to, however both my colleagues on the board and I know that it is an unfortunate necessity to cover our car parking improvement and running costs.

“We have listened carefully to the views of our patients, visitors and staff and they have been telling us that our current car parking provisions are inadequate and urgent changes need to be made. The trust’s challenging financial position means that it does not have the additional funds to invest in the future of its car parking facilities without making the incredibly difficult decision to charge people for using the car parks.”

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “These figures show a worrying increase in the cost of car parking charges in our hospitals.

“Racking up charges on people who have no choice isn’t fair and will only cause more distress for patients and their families.

“Hospitals across the country are hard-pressed because of this Government’s underfunding of the NHS, but money should not be made up through charging patients and their families more and more for an essential service. These increases cannot be justified.”

Most expensive trusts in England for a one-hour visits:

• Royal Surrey county hospital £4
  


• Hereford county hospital £3.50
  


• Stockport £3.50
  


• Bristol royal infirmary £3.40
  


• West Suffolk hospital £3.30
  


• Northampton general £3.10
  


• Royal Free, London £3
  


• Basildon hospital, Essex £3
  


• Whittington hospital, London (after 5pm) £3
  


• St Thomas’ hospital, London £3
  


• Chelsea & Westminster hospital, London £3
  


• Aintree university hospital £3
  


• Luton and Dunstable £3
  


• Mid Cheshire hospitals £3
  


• Mid Essex £3
  


• Southend university hospitals £3
  


• Princess Alexandra hospital, Essex £3
  


• University hospital of South Manchester £3
  


• Warrington hospital £3
  

Car parking charges at hospitals in England rises average 15% since 2014

Boys conceived through IVF technique have lower than average fertility

Boys conceived using an assisted reproductive technique in which sperm is injected directly into the egg have lower fertility than average, scientists have found.

The results come from the first generation of boys conceived using a technique called intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), who are just reaching adulthood, and show that the young men have lower sperm quantity and quality than those conceived spontaneously.

ICSI is normally used to help couples conceive when the man has a low sperm count, or where there are abnormalities in the shape or movement of the sperm. The latest findings suggest that these problems tend to be passed on to the next generation – there is no suggestion that they are caused by the technique itself.

The study found that the men conceived through ICSI, who were aged between 18 to 22, had almost half the sperm concentration and half as many motile sperm (sperm that can swim well) than naturally-conceived men of a similar age.

ICSI men were nearly three times more likely to have sperm concentrations below the World Health Organisation’s threshold for “normal” fertility.

“These findings are not unexpected,” said Andre Van Steirteghem, emeritus professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, who led the work. “Before ICSI was carried out, prospective parents were informed that it may well be that their sons may have impaired sperm and semen like their fathers. For all the parents this information was not a reason to abstain from ICSI because, as they said: ‘If this happens ICSI can then also be a solution for our sons.’”

The findings confirm for the first time that the problems that had caused the father’s infertility – usually genetic factors – appear to be inherited by their sons.

Scientists believe these genetic flaws would be passed on regardless of whether their children were conceived naturally or using ICSI.

“These first results from the oldest group of ICSI-conceived adults worldwide indicate that a degree of ‘sub-fertility’ has indeed been passed on to sons of fathers who underwent ICSI because of impaired semen characteristics,” said Van Steirteghem.

ICSI differs from conventional IVF treatments because the sperm is injected directly into the egg, rather than many sperm being mixed together with an egg and waiting for fertilisation to occur.

In 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available, around half of all IVF cycles in the UK involved ICSI, according to a report by the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority.

Nick Macklon, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology within medicine at the University of Southampton, said: “This was always going to be a concern, and couples were counselled that sons might inherit genetic flaws that nature was trying to get rid of by rendering the man infertile. It justifies our cautious approach. It isn’t any cause for alarm.”

Prof Richard Sharpe, an expert in male reproductive health at the University of Edinburgh, said: “In showing, as a group, that the ICSI sons have starkly abnormal semen quality compared with normal, non-ICSI-derived sons, the results suggest strongly that male fertility problems severe enough to require ICSI may be inheritable.

Importantly, the results are a reminder to us that Icsi is not a treatment for male infertility, but simply a way of bypassing a problem and leaving it for the next generation to deal with – something my generation seem horribly adept at doing.”

Prof Simon Fishel, managing director of Care Fertility, said that the findings were useful but not unexpected. “Just having low semen parameters is not evidence for the requirement of ICSI or IVF technologies,” he said. “We know many men with such are indeed able to conceive naturally. More follow up studies will be required to ascertain meaningful outcomes.”

Boys conceived through IVF technique have lower than average fertility

Average age of mothers hits 30

The report from the ONS for 2013 also shows a standard decline in fertility in girls of all ages.

In 2013, there had been 698,512 births recorded in England and Wales, a decrease of 4.three% from 729,674 in 2012 and the greatest annual decrease considering that 1975.

Previously, the number of births had been increasing every single yr since 2001, with an exception of a .three per cent fall in 2009.

The regular amount of babies per woman has also decreased, from 1.94 in 2012 to one.85 in 2013.

The biggest declines in fertility costs were in girls aged underneath 24 even though the smallest decreases in fertility have been for girls aged 35 and over.

But the British Pregnancy Advisory Support (BPAS) explained that despite these “small” declines in 2013, growing numbers of girls had been delaying having children till later in lifestyle, with the fertility price for women aged 40 and more than possessing nearly trebled considering that 1991.

Ann Furedi, BPAS chief executive, stated: “Overall the fertility rate has decreased, with the most significant declines noticed in younger females. The common age of mothers in this country has hit thirty for the initial time as many females are deciding to start off their families later on in life.

“UK mothers are now on average older than girls elsewhere in the world when they have their first infant. There could be many motives for this, such as the time it requires to achieve educational and expert advancement, as effectively as fiscal security – and it could also be a reflection of how significantly couples take the duty of obtaining kids in the 21st century.

“While pregnancy and birth in older women may possibly present somewhat distinct challenges for healthcare professionals, the response is not to cajole women into getting infants before they are prepared but to make certain our family members planning and maternity services are set up to cater for the modifying wants and selections of women nowadays.”

Individually, the ONS figures display that in 2013, nearly half – 47.4 per cent – of all infants were born outside of marriage, in contrast with 47.5 per cent in 2012 and 41.4 per cent in 2003.

The ONS explained: “This continues the lengthy-term rise in the percentage of births outdoors marriage/civil partnership, which is constant with increases in the amount of couples cohabiting rather than coming into into marriage or civil partnership.”

The amount of births in England and Wales to mothers born outside of the United kingdom also continued to rise, from 18.six in 2003 to 26.5 per cent in 2013 while the number of stillbirths fell by seven.7 per cent, from three,558 in 2012 to 3,284 in 2013.

Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal University of Midwives, explained: “The numbers of births stays historically substantial. This modest drop in the birth-rate will enable the NHS to narrow the gap between the numbers of midwives we have and the amount we really need. We stay 4,500 midwives short in England and these figures need to not be a reason to slacken off, but to improve efforts to get far more midwives into the NHS.

“These midwives are also necessary due to the fact births are also becoming far more complicated for instance as the regular age of mothers increases. This puts further pressures on maternity services and midwives want to give these females the very best levels of care. They cannot do that if there are not ample of them.”

Average age of mothers hits 30

New legal highs on rise as United kingdom death rate twice Europe average

Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, mentioned: “The EU Early Warning Technique, our initial line of defence towards emerging drugs, is coming below expanding stress as the variety and diversity of substances continue to rise sharply.”

In its European Drug report 2014, the EMCDDA stated the complete quantity of legal highs available across the continent has now soared to a lot more than 350 substances.

Some 651 sites promoting legal highs to Europeans were identified by the company as it warned the open sale of the designer drugs on the web has improved availability to distributors and buyers.

“The technologies to access these internet sites is increasingly being integrated into client software program, opening up these marketplaces to a lot more individuals,” the report explained.

“In addition, the open sale of ‘legal highs’ on the Web seems to have enhanced their availability to distributors and shoppers.”

The new legal highs and designer drugs are synthetic or naturally occurring psychoactive substances not controlled below worldwide law, made to mimic the effects of other medicines which have been banned.

They are often mislabelled as plant foods or investigation chemical compounds.

Legal highs are especially challenging to manage as producers, suppliers, retailers, website-hosting and payment-processing services can all be based in different countries, the EMCDDA explained.

The increasing use of anonymous on the web networks, often recognized as the “dark internet”, for the sale of designer medication to dealers and shoppers adds to the problems.

The rise of legal highs has produced it increasingly challenging to assess and recognize drug-induced or drug-related deaths, the EMCDDA said.

“Most overdoses take place amid people who have consumed a number of substances, and attributing causality is usually problematic,” the report stated.

“With the continuing release of new psychoactive substances on the drug market place, there is concern that new or obscure substances that have contributed to deaths may escape detection.”

It additional: “The higher potency of some synthetic substances additional complicates their detection, as they will be current only at really minimal concentrations in the blood.”

Among the 81 new legal highs recognized in 2013, 29 had been synthetic cannabinoids, substances made to recreate the results of cannabis. Yet another thirty compounds did not fit into any recognised group, the report said.

There had been 13 new substituted phenethylamines reported, seven synthetic cathinones, a tryptamine and a piperazine.

Legal highs are often produced in China or India but there are secret laboratories making the substances in Europe, the company explained.

The strength of designer medicines is triggering troubles for law enforcement agencies as properly, as little quantities of the substances can be converted into numerous doses, the report explained.

Ms Malmstrom explained: “Europe’s law enforcement bodies are more and more faced with the truth that modest, effortlessly transported packages of seemingly innocuous powders can acquire many 1000′s of person doses.”

In the Uk, the Home Workplace last yr launched a assessment of legal highs to seem at how the country’s laws can be enhanced.

Possibilities include the expansion of legislation to ensure police and law enforcement companies have better tailored powers.

The Government banned two groups of psychoactive substances in December, NBOMe and Benzofuran compounds , as class A and B medication respectively.

Heroin use and availability is in decline, the EMCDDA mentioned, with the amount of 1st-time entrants to specialist drug therapy for heroin issues falling from a peak of 59,000 in 2007 to 31,000 in 2012.

Heroin seized in 2012, 5 tonnes, was the lowest reported in the final decade.

Drug use stays one of the key leads to of mortality among younger folks in Europe, the report mentioned, with all around 6,100 overdose deaths reported in Europe in 2012, down from six,500 in 2011.

Estonia had the highest common mortality rate due to overdose at 191 per million, the company mentioned.

New legal highs on rise as United kingdom death rate twice Europe average