The anti-intellectual faction of FR struck again. It didn't take long for the folks (who obviously know better) to proclaim that this study is a farce. Thank you for your post (despite them).
One assumes that they think that the University had an ulterior motive for publishing their findings and that the results weren't put to scrutiny. They must have been paid by the Twinkie Lobby...
The research on this subject is mixed. There's a collection of studies that say there are problems with this stuff and an equal number that disagree. You can guess which ones the plastics industry cites. Bisphenol-A even has it's own 'we love this stuff' website.
Well, I am a physicist and one of the most elementary concepts in the subject is that energy is conserved in a reaction. Fat is the acumulation of adipose tissue resulting from a surplus of calories (a unit of energy). The ONLY way to "get fat" is to have this calorie surplus. Your body can adjust its metabolism depending on your circumstances, but the average adult male has a resting metabolic rate (the number of calories your body burns in the absence of physical activity...ie, the thermogenic effect of food, the pumping of your heart, and other maintenance activities for your body) of 1800 calories a day, while the average adult male consumes 2700 calories a day. Granted, any exercise whatsoever (getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, even reading) adds to this total. However, the average number of calories burned is still approximately 2500 calories. If a person maintains a 200 calorie surplus such as this for a year, he will gain 20 lbs.
The bottom line: stop trying to make excuses for people’s inability to maintain calorie equilibrium. Medical research means very little these days but rather reflects the study's source of funding. I also happen to be an avid statistician and consequently know the relative ease with which a person can lie with numbers.
The human body is an autonomous internal combustion engine; it needs to run at a higher speed than idle and cannot produce more mass than it consumes.