Dr. Frederica Perera and the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Featured in New Yorker Magazine

The work of Mailman School of Public Health’s Dr. Frederica Perera, professor of Environmental Health Sciences and director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) was prominently featured in a New Yorker Magazine article written by Jerome Groopman on Bisphenol A. Commonly known as BPA, the chemical is widely used in common household plastic products. Animal studies have shown links between the chemical and certain cancers, and this month, President Obama’s Cancer Panel issued a report addressing the rising number of carcinogens released into the environment—including BPA—raising awareness, and calling for much stricter regulation.

Dr. Perera has been studying the dangers of these chemicals since 1980 and how the compounds pass from mother to child during pregnancy and damage blood cells. Dr. Perera currently oversees one of the largest and longest-standing studies of a cohort of mothers and newborns in the United States as well as in Kraków, Poland, and two cities in China to investigate the short- and long-term effects of environmental chemicals on children and assess for mental and motor development. For more information visit www.ccceh.org.