Teresa Heinz clearly hasn’t read Lawrence Meyer’s anti-alarmist blog post against baseless chemical scares — her foundation has deemed the dubious BPA research of University of Missouri biological sciences professor Frederick vom Saal worthy of the $100,000 Heinz Award. The award was given just one day after he published a new study alleging that women, female monkeys, and female mice exhibit comparable BPA metabolism. The new study, published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, contradicts previous studies indicating that humans excrete BPA faster than rats. Dr. vom Saal has previously linked BPA in baby products to early puberty, diabetes and cancer.
“It is a travesty that the Heinz Foundation is awarding someone who magnifies such bogus risks,” laments ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan.
“Well, Teresa Heinz isn’t exactly a sound science advocate,” adds ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. “This is comparable to Harvard School of Public Health’s giving an award for — of all things — public health to environmental activist Erin Brokovich, who successfully sued Pacific Gas & Electric for non-health issues related to hexavalent chromium. They gave her their highest honor — the Julius Richmond Award.”