Legal threat emerges over erectile dysfunction

One of the key demands made by Republican politicians is to clamp down on trial lawyers - these inconvenient people who go round suing capitalists who cause loss and injury to others. Capitalism is all about making the maximum possible profit. If this means cutting a few corners and taking a few risks, that's an acceptable part of the game and should be without liability if things go seriously wrong. Lawyers have this twisted sense of reality. They believe manufacturers and service providers should be held responsible if they injure other people. The courts try to occupy the middle ground and order corporations too seriously at fault to ignore to pay out a few millions as compensation. No large corporation has ever been hit with an award of damages so high that it was forced into bankruptcy. This leaves judgments from the courts and negotiated settlements with government as no more than a slap on the wrist. After payment, business goes on as before. It's as if nothing happened.

Which brings us to the emerging evidence of a link between Bisphenol A and sexual problems for men. Now you might not have heard of BPA but it's everywhere. The key uses are to harden clear plastic and as part of the recipe to make epoxy resin. Pick up any food or drinks container and the odds are it contains BPA. It's also used to line virtually every can of food and drink sold in the US. There's just one problem. The chemical leaches into the food or drink. That means everything you eat from canned vegetables, meat or fish, and everything you drink from juice to beer, contains this chemical. In adults, this may not be quite so bad but in babies and young children, it's really bad. So bad, in fact, that its use in any infant product has been banned in several countries. In the US, the FDA has been weighing up the evidence to decide whether there should be limits on its use. So far, the manufacturers have resisted any suggestion their product damages people. Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us and a few other stores have not waited and already impose a voluntary ban.

The latest evidence comes out of China where men exposed to high levels of BPA were seven times more likely to suffer erectile dysfunction. The suggestion in the US is that BPA may build up slowly and reach toxic levels after several years, first showing in men as erectile dysfunction. The FDA will release its findings shortly. If it avoids the political pressures and finds the scientific case proven, product liability lawyers around the country will say prayers of thanks. The time of great suing will be upon us. All of which brings us back to those men in the US currently suffering from erectile dysfunction. Up to now, doctors have routinely tested for heart disease as the most likely underlying cause. More lab work may now be necessary. You could routinely buy viagra and treat the problem, but this may only be a short-term solution. No matter how good viagra is - and it is very good - it cannot combat chemical castration by BPA if you are unlucky enough to have eaten and drunk too much plastic over your lifetime.