News stories have begun to surface about an alleged link between bisphenol-A (aka BPA or bisphenol-Acetone, a synthetic estrogen) and prostate cancer. BPA is a main ingredient in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin. The cited study is of the “lab rat” variety, and the alleged link is between neonatal exposure and cancer in later life, so it’s a tenuous correlation. I also don’t know what the residual BPA content is of epoxy resin used for surfboards. However, there is enough residual content in polycarbonate water bottles to have fueled speculation about a cancer link from that source. And San Francisco is considering an outright ban on baby items with any BPA (or PVC) content. So, even if the consequent risk (direct or secondary) from laminating with epoxy is negligible or nonexistent, there are PR dynamics in place that could lead to more stringent environmental regulation of these chemicals.
Link to Environmental News Service story on BPA/prostate cancer link: http://tinyurl.com/knxsn
Link to Wikipedia entry for bisphenol A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A
Link to SFGate article on proposed ban of certain articles containing BPA: http://tinyurl.com/zsrun
-Samiam
“You’ll need to excuse me now, there is a PBJ sandwich calling my name…”