{"id":105126,"date":"2019-12-06T10:42:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T15:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=105126"},"modified":"2019-12-10T16:27:29","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T21:27:29","slug":"how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\/","title":{"rendered":"How Safe Are BPA-Free Plastics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of us look for the BPA-free labels when buying plastic food storage\u00a0containers. But are these BPA-free plastics really safe?<\/p>\n

Megan Rizer, a fourth-year biomedical sciences student, wanted to find out for herself. Rizer is studying the alternative compounds used in BPA-free plastics to find out whether they contain the same harmful properties as BPA.<\/p>\n

Her research recently earned her a Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award, which recognizes outstanding academic research by UCF undergraduates. Winners receive a $200 scholarship.<\/p>\n

Rizer\u2019s research focuses on bisphenols, a group of chemicals that has been used to make plastics and other products since the 1960s.\u00a0Typically found in containers that store food and beverages, such as water bottles, BPA or bisphenol-A is the most well-known of the group, as exposure to it has been associated with cancer, genetic mutation and reproductive issues.<\/p>\n

Many countries, including the United States, have banned the use of BPA in baby bottles, prompting manufacturers to find alternate compounds to make plastics. But many BPA-free labeled plastics still contain derivatives or analogs of bisphenols that Rizer says are structurally similar to BPA and can be just as harmful.<\/p>\n

Working with College of Medicine faculty researchers Emily Bradshaw and Alicia Hawthorne, Rizer is investigating two most commonly used analogs \u2013 BPF and BPS \u2013 to see whether they have the same potential mutagenicity, the ability to cause genetic mutations as BPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese analogs have never really been thoroughly tested as to whether they are mutagenic,\u201d Rizer says. \u201cSo we\u2019re looking at these most common analogs to make sure that they are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the study, Rizer treated cells from mice with various concentrations of BPA, BPF and BPS and incubated them for 24 hours. She then measured a gene\u2014GADD45 alpha that increases when DNA mutations are occurring within a cell.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, our preliminary data indicates that the analogs are very similar in terms of their levels of mutagenicity compared to BPA,\u201d she said. \u201cWe found BPS to be the safest option but it is still harmful. However, these are still preliminary findings and we have a long ways to go and will do further studies before we can prove that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rizer has presented her preliminary findings at three local conferences including the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference and is currently preparing a submission for the Experimental Biology 2020 conference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPeople tend to take anything someone says as the truth. So to be able to actually discover what the truth is, and the scientific reasoning behind it is something that has always been very appealing to me,\u201d says Rizer. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved the idea of being able to actually figure something out or discover something for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawthorne who has been mentoring Rizer since her first year at UCF, says research comes naturally to Rizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is quite intellectual and is able to understand the project, task, or what needs to be done,\u201d Hawthorne says. \u201cShe always thinks ahead and has great ideas for future projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from UCF on Dec. 13, Rizer will continue her work as a research assistant in Hawthorne\u2019s lab while applying for medical school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always known that I want to be a doctor,\u201d says Rizer, who lost her mother to cancer when Rizer was 11. \u201cWhen my mom was diagnosed I would go to her doctor\u2019s appointments. The doctors could tell I was interested in learning about medicine so they would try to explain everything to me and I was always intrigued. I also want to be able to have a direct impact, possibly helping to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A graduating biomedical sciences student is testing plastic compounds to see if they are OK to use for food storage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":105127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[12,17,23],"tags":[488,490,14916,4951],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-105126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-medicine","category-research","tag-biology","tag-biomedical-sciences","tag-research","tag-undergraduate-research"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Safe Are BPA-Free Plastics? | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A graduating biomedical sciences student is testing plastic compounds to see if they are OK to use for food storage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Safe Are BPA-Free Plastics?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A graduating biomedical sciences student is testing plastic compounds to see if they are OK to use for food storage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T15:42:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T21:27:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2019\/12\/ucf-bpa.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Kruckemyer \u201973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Kruckemyer \u201973\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gene Kruckemyer \u201973\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9640ca0c84355d1c971ce4e83999b1cc\"},\"headline\":\"How Safe Are BPA-Free Plastics?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-06T15:42:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-10T21:27:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/ucf-bpa.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"biology\",\"Biomedical Sciences\",\"Research\",\"Undergraduate research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health & Medicine\",\"Medicine\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/how-safe-are-bpa-free-plastics\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Safe Are BPA-Free Plastics? 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