What is Bisphenol-A (BPA)?

Bisphenol-A, or BPA, is a chemical that has been used since the 1940s to make certain plastics and before that, it was actually developed to be an estrogen replacement drug.

Over a period of several years, scientists conducting animal studies have linked BPA to infertility, weight gain, behavioral changes, early onset puberty, cancer and diabetes.

The National Institutes of Health announced that they are devoting $30 million dollars to study the safety of BPA.

In response to this growing concern, some companies making products for babies and young children have stopped using it.

Babies R Us has featured a large sign in stores that says that all infant feeding products sold there are BPA-free.

Is all the concern over BPA justified?

Scientists in Houston are at the forefront of research on this potentially harmful chemical. At the University of Houston's Biology and Biochemistry department researchers are studying the effects of BPA on human cells.

Doctor Maria Bondesson, a cell and molecular biologist, was part of a large study in Sweden investigating BPA and is now continuing her research here at University of Houston. The researchers are exposing human cervical cancer cells to BPA and studying the ways that this chemical interferes with the cell's hormone receptors.