(Image source: Great Lakes Echo)

BY LEXA DECKERT

ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

You're watching multisource video science news analysis from Newsy

A common reaction to a mouse sighting is a shriek -- now a new study done at the University of Missouri, Columbia shows female mice might be feeling the same way.

Deer mice like these were used in the study. Female deer mice were fed a BPA-supplemented diet and given a dosage equivalent to what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers a non-toxic dose and safe for mothers to ingest.
   
When their offspring became mature enough they were tested -- Mother Nature Network reports the results of the male mice...

“The male deer mice that were exposed to BPA showed poor spatial navigational skills - skills that male deer mice need to find females in the wild - in comparison to their peers.  They couldn't navigate mazes very well, nor could they remember they way out once they discovered it.”

Not only did the study suggest males would have a hard time with the ladies, but Time reports the female mice might not even give them a chance.

“In another experiment, fertile female deer mice were released into an enclosure with two male mice: one that had been exposed to BPA and one that did not. Researchers observed that the females were twice as likely to express sexual interest in the BPA-free male as in the exposed mouse. (How does a mouse express sexual interest, you ask? Nose-to-nose contact, apparently.)”


This effect may sound trivial when it comes to mice -- but won’t amuse men if the same could happen to humans. Cheryl Rosenfeld, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and an associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri--Columbia says mice may be just the beginning...


“These findings presumably have broad implications to other species, including humans, where there are also innate differences between males and females in cognitive and behavioral patterns... In the wide scheme of things, these behavioral deficits could, in the long term, undermine the ability of a species such as the deer mouse to reproduce in the wild. Whether there are comparable health threats to humans remains unclear, but there clearly must be a concern.” (MU News Bureau)


Although BPA has been deemed safe to use in the making of some plastics and can linings, some people say there are already known negative health effects. ABC interviews a pediatrician...


“There have been hundreds of studies now that show that even small levels of BPA -- because it’s a hormone -- can have big impact. The kinds of things we’ve seen are increased risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer, changes in puberty, changes in genital development, changes in behavior, and obesity rates go up -- diabetes rates too.”


CNN reports even though the FDA realizes some of the risk, nothing has come of it yet...

“In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement expressing concern about the potential effects of BPA on fetuses and small children, but the agency has stopped short of declaring the chemical toxic (as Canada has done) or banning its use in certain products.”



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