Okay this is long -
Here's my take on this subject. I know many of you may disagree because you think we are "freaking out" over yet another study that tells us the sky is falling. But really we are only trying to educate ourselves to make the healthiest choices for our families. With this much debate there is something to be learned. Over the past few months I've grown a bit alarmed about Bisphenol-A or BPA.
BPA is a chemical compound. It's most often found in Polycarbonate Plastics. Polycarbonate Plastics are those clear plastics you see everywhere. For example, all those Nalgene colored and clear water bottles are made from Polycarbonates. Another common item is over 90% of baby bottles.
So who cares, lots of things are made of plastic. Well, there is a fairly raging debate that BPAs can leach from plastic when heated, and that BPAs can cause all sorts of ails like cancer. Now I don't consider myself an environmentalist, and I certainly realize that in the modern industrial world we live in we are constantly exposed to things that are bad for us; the air we breath, the weather, the hole in the ozone layer, pesticides, global warming and so on. However, this discussion about BPAs has been enough to pique my interest and concern me.
My basic philosophy on these sorts of things is this. If all the "industry funded plastics research" says one thing, and much of the "independent" research says another thing, then something is fishy. For all we know, this is just the very beginning in our understanding of the long term affects of BPA and 20 years from now we'll look back at this and wish we knew more... OR it's perfectly safe and there is nothing to worry about. But when presented with a choice in the matter, I would rather avoid this sort of thing, especially when it concerns my kids health. What I do find scary is the number of pro BPA websites that the plastics industry has already set up to remind us how "safe" it is because the FDA has yet to prove otherwise...
Before I go on I should explain that not all plastics contain BPA, and that you should mainly be concerned with plastics that come in contact with food as the heat is what can accelerate BPA leaching. There are a few kinds of plastics and they can be identified by those little triangled number symbols.
1-PETE Polyethylene Terephthalate No BPA
2-HDPE High-Density Polyethylene (Milk, detergent & oil bottles. Toys and plastic bags.) No BPA
3-PVC Vinyl/Polyvinyl Chloride (Food wrap, vegetable oil bottles, blister packages.) Has BPA
4-LDPE Low-Density Polyethylene (Many plastic bags. Shrink wrap, garment bags.) No BPA
5-PP Polypropylene No BPA
6-PS PS (Throwaway utensils, meat packing, protective packing.) Has BPA
7-Other - Usually layered or mixed plastic. Has BPA
So the past I decided to get rid of my beloved Polycarbonate Nalgene bottles, plastic coffee mugs, or any other form of plastic that we might heat up. We are replacing our tupperware with Pyrex glass storage containers. We replaced all our Nalgene Lexan bottles with the excellent swiss SIGG bottles. You can also opt to use the white Nalgene bottles as they are made from High Density Polyethylene (BPA free).
However, when it came to finding Baby Bottles that weren't made of Polycarbonate things to a bit tougher. Basically you have a few choices:
1. Good old Glass bottles. Evenflo makes them into two sizes (4oz and 8oz)
2. Playtex Original Nurser Polycarbonate bottles with Polypropylene Drop-ins Inserts (the formula goes in the Polypropylene which does not contain BPAs).
3. Born Free (I was actually wondering when a Baby Bottle company would get wise and take advantage of the uncertainty around BPA safety and market this fact). I have yet to try see these for myself, and the web site is not clear about what kind of BPA free plastic they use. update: Whole Foods and
Amazon (5oz and 9oz) now carry Born Free Bottles. They are made from a material called Polyamide which appears to be a bio-plastic.
4. Snappies - Polypropylene breast milk storage bottles.
5. Medela breast pump storage containers and baby bottles are all made of Polypropylene
What's also very interesting is that San Francisco just became the first place in the world to ban the use of baby products with BPA effective December 1st 2006.
" Under the proposed ordinance, no product that is intended for use by a child under 3 years of age could be manufactured, sold or distributed in San Francisco if it contains bisphenol A, or BPA, an ingredient in hard, clear polycarbonate plastic. Some forms of phthalate, a chemical that softens plastic, including polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, would also be banned."
" But evidence is mounting that even in low exposure levels, BPA can be dangerous, especially for infants and developing fetuses. BPA is eerily similar to estrogen, the naturally occurring hormone that regulates sexual development, and since the 1990s, early exposure has been linked to a variety of problems, ranging from early puberty and undescended testicles to birth defects like hypospadia. Recently, scientists at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Illinois at Chicago found that exposing newborn rats to low levels of BPA permanently damaged their genes in ways that caused them to develop prostate cancer. Given that BPA tends to concentrate in the placenta and amniotic fluid of pregnant women in five to 10 times the levels found in the average adult, the research raises troubling questions about the potential for prenatal exposure to BPA to cause prostate cancer decades down the line."
As with all animal studies, it remains to be seen how well the findings will apply to humans. But as scientific evidence of the risks accumulates, and as rates of reproductive-system diseases continue to rise, its time to take some common-sense measures to limit exposure. For consumers, this means avoiding using cookware or food storage items containing BPA and being especially careful about microwaving plastics, which can cause them to leach BPA at higher levels. For your state legislators, it means following San Franciscos lead and banning BPA from child-care products.
Our very own (usually slow-moving) canadian government is also working on a law to ban all BPA products from our store shelves nation wide. This is being written to protect children under the age of 3 and pregnant women but hopefully will mean that the plastic industry will sit up and listen.
"The Canadian government has released its Draft Screening Assessment for bisphenol A, which proposed classifying the chemical as "'toxic' to human health and the environment. This action follows Canadian regulators decision in 2006 to select bisphenol A as one of 200 substances deserving of thorough safety assessments after preliminary studies had found it to be 'inherently toxic'; the chemical had not previously been studied by them in depth, having been accepted under grandfather clauses when stricter regulations were passed in the 1980s"
So what can we do? Plastic is impossible to avoid. For starters:
1. Don't microwave in plastics. Use heat-resistant glass containers, Corning Ware or ceramics to microwave all your products, even if it is "microwave safe."
2. Cover food with a paper towel rather than plastic wrap in the microwave. Never microwave baggies.
3. Even organic microwavable foods have plastic coverings. Take two minutes to remove the product from its plastic wrapping and put it in a glass or ceramic bowl before cooking.
4. Dont drink hot liquids through a straw. Not only will you burn your tongue and throat, but the heat will pull the chemicals from the straw into your coffee.
5. Drink water out of glasses or glass bottles
So it's really very simple. You can do nothing and that's your prerogative. But I think folks should at least know that this debate is brewing, and that you can avoid a potentially harmful chemical if you chose... Why take the risk if you can find a cost effective suitable alternative for you and your child?
Anyway, I hope this information serves useful to someone. I seriously think plastic is an amazing invention, but I also wonder if the plastics industry is in for a lot of scrutiny in the next few decades as people begin to better understand the effects of plastic in our lives.
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Somehow I lived!! Now, my children do sit in car seats and do wear helmets when they ride their bikes, but I refuse to worry about everything I eat. I remember when people thought milk and eggs were bad. Scientists are constantly changing their minds about stuff like this, and I refuse to worry about it. I'll live my life and be happy and what happens happens.
is just, well, nonsense. You may have been fed from a glass bottle, as I was. I too was formula fed, as the time when you and I were born was an all time low for breast feeding. DS is formula fed now.....not my first choice, but alas, it is where we are at. I don't have a choice at this point. We were all just lucky not to be human torpedos if we had ever been in an accident while bouncing around in that back seat. I know in talking with my mom, she wishes she had the information we are fortunate to have today in regards to what choices she made for me back then. 
I am with you!!! We also drank out of the waterhose outside !!!
) and read a lot on this subject. I have also been studying signal transduction. Anything chemical or basically unnatural to the body can affect our physiology. Of course, this is not news to people who live "green." 
We are free to choose what is best for our families and our earth with what we know now. I don't understand what business is that of your's if you don't pay our bills or have to deal with any adverse consequences. 
