Stumble It!
I'm sure you have all heard on the news and media about the safety of the plastics we use, specifically in baby bottles, sippy cups, bowls, etc., especially regarding the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA). In case you've been living in a cave, here is what it is:
From the Green Guide:
"Depending on whom you talk to, BPA is either perfectly safe or a dangerous health risk. The plastics industry says it is harmless, but a growing number of scientists are concluding, from some animal tests, that exposure to BPA in the womb raises the risk of certain cancers, hampers fertility and could contribute to childhood behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.
According to its critics, BPA mimics naturally occurring estrogen, a hormone that is part of the endocrine system, the body's finely tuned messaging service. "These hormones control the development of the brain, the reproductive system and many other systems in the developing fetus," says Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D., a developmental biologist at the University of Missouri. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals can duplicate, block or exaggerate hormonal responses. "The most harm is to the unborn or newborn child," vom Saal says.
Plastic water and baby bottles, food and beverage can linings and dental sealants are the most commonly encountered uses of this chemical. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay put. BPA has been found to leach from bottles into babies' milk or formula; it migrates from can liners into foods and soda and from epoxy resin-lined vats into wine; and it is found in the mouths of people who've recently had their teeth sealed. Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
For other informational videos and articles on the topic, all you need to do is google it, and there is more than 60 pages of websites. Or click here for a portal to all media stories on the topic.Most concerning for me is this, "Bisphenol A is a hormone disruptor. Studies have linked low-dose BPA exposure with such effects as: permanent changes to genital tract; increase prostate weight; decline in testosterone; breast cells predisposed to cancer; prostate cells more sensitive to hormones and cancer; and hyperactivity."
Both Canada and Germany have moved to ban the use of this chemical in their plastics, which you can find most commonly in Recycling #7 items. (Check the bottom of your plastics to see which are which, and click here for explanations of the recycling numbers).
Normally, I'm not on the freak-out bandwagon when the media focuses on one thing or another. But my own research, combined with the fact that other countries have moved to BAN this chemical based on their own research studies, currently has me in a tizzy.
Of course, the plastics company has this website dedicated to proving to us that their products is safe. But that isn't surprising. A billion-dollar industry isn't going to admit any wrong doings, and will find scientific facts to back up their product so long as the FDA and our country approve its use.
The Dr. Brown's bottles I fed my daughter from were unsafe (they now have a BPA-free line). Her pacifiers (Avent) are on the "dangerous" list. Some of the sippy cups we used were also made from BPA products. The Del Monte mandarin oranges in the to-go containers are made with #7 plastic. Our water cooler bottles (the 5-gallon jugs) are made with it. What scares me the most about the water cooler jugs is that they can't be truly recycled so they sterilize and reuse them for up to six months. This means further breaking down of the plastics from this process. And I drink from this thinking it was safer than tap water. I was wrong. It seems it's everywhere.
I had heard the warnings but muted them in my head. One more thing for the media to rile people up about. Last week fish is great for you for Omegas. This week it will kill you with mercury. Red meat is an excellent source of iron. Red meat will give you a heart attack. Running is good for your heart. Running will kill your joints. I never listen, and do my own research to get the answers I need. In this case, I only wish I listened sooner. Much like the use of asbestos, other countries banned it first while our country convinced us that it was safe. Only until they could link specific lung cancers to asbestos did our country ban it. In this case, I am not waiting for my daughter to get uterine cancer, or my son to have low levels of testosterone before I act.
I have spent the last two days on this laptop researching this and have done the following: thrown away all of the unsafe baby products as well as our plastic drinking cups; canceled our water cooler service; emailed GoodStart (the formula we will most likely use with Sawyer since we loved it with Charlotte) to ask if their cans are lined with BPA, which some cans are; bought stainless steel travel mugs for me and Mike for our water at work (NOT lined in plastic -just steel) ordered stainless steel sippy cups (Foogoo brand stainless steel sippy cups are also available at Target); ordered bamboo plates and bowls for Charlotte; thrown away all of her pacifiers and am going to replace them with safe ones.
We can use glass or ceramic but she carries her bowls around and that is unsafe, which is why bamboo is a great option. I also plan to use Dr. Brown's new glass bottle line for Sawyer for when we're in the house and I can be safe, and the Born-Free bottles for travel and such. For water, we can't use our local tap water because it is NASTY, so I'm going to buy a steel water filter for the sink.
I know I probably seem a bit nuts about all of this, but just go read and watch and research yourself. Then maybe I won't seem so nuts.
Have any of you switched over to BPA-free products? Do you buy into the hype about its safety or do you just figure it's something else for the media to harp on? What do you use for yourself and your babies? For me, even through the media frenzy, I'd rather be safe than sorry.
SafeMama is another site you can check out for links to all brands (as well as recalls and other safety information). You can google "BPA free products" or check out this link, but here is a quick list for your reference:
BPA & Phthalate Free Pacifiers:
- Playtex: Playtex "Binky" (one piece silicone pacifier), Binky Most Like Mother Latex Pacifier, Binky Most Like Mother Silicone Pacifier, Binky Angled Pacifier, Ortho-Pro Pacifier
- Gerber: NUK Original, NUK Classic, NUK Nautical
- The First Years: Soothies Silicone Paci's, Safe Comfort, Ultra Kip
- Vice Versa Binky w/ Case
- Natursutten Natural Rubber Paci
- Evenflo: Mimi Soft Touch, Mimi Premium, Mimi Neo One-Piece, Vizion, Fuzion and Illuzion
- Gumdrop Silicon Pacifiers
BPA & Phthalate Free Bottle Products:
- Adiri Natural Nursers
- Avent "Via" disposable bottles
- BornFree: All bottles and cups BPA free *see note
- EvenFlo: Glass bottles, Classic Tinted Polypropylene bottles
- Playtex: Original Nurser,Opaque Soft Bottle (discontinued), Playtex Drop in liners
- Gerber: Gerber Clearview, Fashion Tints (also called "Plastic Pastels"), Gerber GentleFlow
- Medela: All bottles
- Sassy MAM bottles (UltiVent), Baby Food Nurser Kit
- Green to Grow Bottles **see note
- Sassy Baby Food Nurser Kit
- ThinkBaby Bottles
- Momo Glass Bottles
- Munchkin: Dora the Explorer Classic Bottles
- Nuby: Standard Neck Non-Drip Bottle, Wide-Neck Non-Drip Bottle, Wide-Neck Bottle with Handles and Non-Drip Nipple, Standard Neck Bottle with Handles and Non-Drip Nipple, 3-Stage Wide Neck Easy Grip Feeding System with Non-Drip Nipple.
- Nuture Pure Glass bottles
- Babisil Silbottles
- Weego Glass Bottles
- Siliskin Glass Bottles
- Dr Brown's: Glass Bottles (all vent system pieces BPA Free), Dr. Browns Polypropylene bottles (due in store's April 15th)
- Parent's Choice Bottles (available at Walmart) - box is marked BPA Free
BPA & Phthalate Free Sippy Cups:
- Playtex: Coolster Tumbler, Insulator, Einstein Sip & Discover Training Cup, Sipster, Create My Own, Quick Straw, Insulator Sport, Sip and Discover, First Sipster, Einstein Sip & Discover Insulated Straw Cup
- Gerber: Sip & Smile Spill-proof Cup, Easy Grip Insulated Soft Straw Cup, Insulated Cool Cup, Fun Grips Color Change Spill-proof Cup, Grins & Giggles Spill-proof Cup (source)
- BornFree sippy/drinking cups
- Kleen Kanteen
- Thermos Foogo Sippy Cups, and drinking bottle with straw
- SIGG Toddler Water Bottles
- Kid Basix The Safe Sippy
- Boon Sippy
- GrowPure Multi-Stage Feeder and Sippy Cup
- iPlay Aqua Bottle
- ThinkBaby Training Cup
- Sassy Snack Time Infa-Trainer Cup
- Munchkin: Cupsicle, Cupsicle Straw Cup, Big Kid Sippy Cup, Mighty Grip Flip Straw Cup, Mighty Grip Trainer Cup, licensed character Sports Bottles, Re-usable Straw Cups, Re-usable Spill-proof Cups
- Nuby: No-Spill Sports Sipper, Insulated Soft Silicone Spout Cup, Soft Spout Easy Grip Cup, Gripper Cup with Soft Silicone Spout, 2-Handle Cup, Tinted Mega Sipper, 7oz Tumblers
- The First Years: Take & Toss, Spill-proof Cup, Insulated Cup, Licensed character sippy cups, Insulated Spill-proof Cup, 2 Handled Cups
18 comments:
I just bought a water bottle which was BPA Free. I heard a long time ago about it but the focus was on baby stuff. I don't have a kid, so I just stored it in my memory until then. After reading the link on your food website for tupperware, I became more aware. Then I found the water bottle and have used it since.
OK, I too sort of blow this off. First of all, for my situation, we are done with bottles and Bridget doesn't use a pacifier. Yes, we used Dr. Browns and I can't go back and change it so I'm not going to think about it and worry myself sick. I understand you do worry about it because you have another baby on the way.
I do mainly think this is the newest thing to get hyped up over, but I haven't done any research like you have. One thing I'd be interested to learn is the levels at which the chemical causes problems. We all remember the great saccharin scare and probably all think "saccharine causes cancer." But truly, more recent studies show that 1)no human could ever consume as much saccharin as the rats they injected who got cancer, and 2) only males of a certain breed of rat got cancer from saccharin and they think that has something to do with the mix of saccharin and a protein in their urine. So like you said, these issues are not black and white and data can be made to look any way you want it to look.
I'm not saying it's not cause for concern and I think even without risk of these problems, the less chemicals we put in our bodies, the better. So what can it hurt to make the effort to avoid them until further details come out? But I'll bet that just like saccharin, if this is ever proven to be nothing to worry about, we'll never hear about it. Because that's not news.
Thank you for the post, though. I do feel better knowing that the sippy cups we use are on the OK list. I will have to rethink our use of the individual fruit cups, but I've needed to do that anyway. Here the only plastics that recycle are 1 and 2 so continually using those things is bad for the environment at the very least.
I too pretty much freaked about this over the past week. I changed a TON of stuff on the baby registry to ensure that everything was BPA free. I purchased all glass containers to hold leftovers and put all the plastics in the recycle bin. On my list still is to get rid of all the water bottles and get the BPA free aluminum ones.
For me this falls in the category of stuff that I can't continue to use KNOWING that it's bad. I don't have regrets about whats been done before I knew...because I just can't stress myself out in that way. But the BPA usage in this house is over. Scary stuff.
I've been following this for awhile now which is amazing considering I normally find stuff like this kind of boring (terrible, I know).
At first I didn't care - and even bought Avent bottles, and then the store I bought the bottles at (a major chain in Canada) said you could return them and get your money back and that's when I suddenly realized how big a deal this was.
I'm breastfeeding, but we're supplementing so this is a big deal to me. But, I think it's a preventative thing. I'm not too concerned about previous BPA exposure.
ok, well, thanks for getting me looking. The sippy cups my babies use are old~they were my oldest daughter's. But, they're a #2, so I guess I'm safe? The kids' plastic plates are #7. I may just have them use more paper plates and move them up to using our dishes (maybe). The Avent bottles the babies sometimes drink out of have no number on them and neither do the First Years snack bowls. I guess I need to check that out. I'll have to look at the plastic water bottles they drink out of too. And of course the Dole fruit cups they love are #7. I guess I move back to the cans. sigh.
It's another worry of the week thing! Sorry but I'm not in a panic over this. If you can get the non BPA stuff then by all means do it. No harm in switching unless of course the kids completely reject the stuff! Aaron will ONLY use Nuby cups and we have even tried the Foogo one because I liked it was 100% recyclable but he wants nothing to do with that one! As for the kids plates Aiden sometimes's uses the plastic character ones but also uses our smaller glass ones. There is soooo much plastic in everyone's life everywhere! You don't know which is used in which toy because they are not marked. Not to mention all the vinyl in your home.. from the siding to the pipes. Should you have a house fire the fumes you are breathing in from the melting vinyl alone could kill you or cause cancer later on! Watch "Blue Vinyl" when you have some spare time. There will always be something to freak out about... I'd say put yourself in a bubble but guess what.... THEY ARE PLASTIC TOO!!! LOL!
http://daddytypes.com/2008/04/23/give_up_yet_10x_lead_found_in_playground_astroturf.php
Here now you can worry about the ground covering in parks and playgrounds since the fake turf was found to have 10x the legal limit of lead right here in Jersey! LOL! See there is always something... LOL! Everything will kill you especially the Jersey air! LMFAO!
I have to some degree. I found about this about a yr and a half before they were even saying anything about in the US when I was visiting Canada. Of course Matthew used Dr Browns stuff and we saved those for baby girl. They will be tossed and I will be getting glass and born free bottles. I bought a Sigg water bottle but still continue to use the plastic plates and cups. The Sigg water bottle rocks but Matthew loves his old water bottles and refuses to use the Sigg bottle as much as the others. I checked all my plastics and we have five mostly. I have done some reading and research but not a ton. I guess I am a little in denial over it. We do not drink bottled water - it is filtered both at work and home. Some if this is out of laziness and some of it is out of denial. Thanks for the links and keep sharing. BTW where did you find the bamboo plates?? I would love to do away with the plastic plates and cups we use!
O.k. I'm a BPA Freak! I am trying to totally eliminate the use of BPA in our house. My thing is, if I can do anything to eliminate any chance of something bad happening to myself or my children in the future, I'm all for it. I'd rather err on the side of caution.
I know there is always a "scare" of the week but if countries are banning the use of bpa, then I'd assume it's not a good thing. I did hear about it last year and kind of brushed it off as nothing until I started getting more educated on the subject...and now I'm legitimately freaked out by it. It all just make sense to me.
IMO, It seems like puberty is happening a little earlier now in children and who is to say bpa isn't a factor in that? I've recently heard, "in my day, we used or I drank blah blah blah and nothing happened to me" but compounds used in manufacturing products change so something that was safe before may not be safe now so I don't see that as a valid argument. I don't know what was used in the making of plastics. Years ago it may have been safe, but I don't think #7 plastic is safe to use.
I've switched all my kids cups to foogo and funtainers, have bpa free bottles. I contacted poland springs to see if their water cooler jugs were made with #7's (which I'm sure they are)because I know their sport plastic bottles arent (they are #1's). I check EVERYTHING now because you just never know and like I said, if I can prevent anything from happening to my children, I'll take the steps to keep them safe. I really feel like bpa is a harmul thing. I just feel like if some countries are trying to ban the use of bpa, and are trying to get it labeled as "toxic to humans", I don't need to use it.
Like I said, I'm a BPA Freak..LOL.
the bpa scare started being discussed a lot when i was preggie. i just decided rather then risk it i bought the playtex drop-ins. i like them. cole likes them too!
I, too, blow this stuff off. I figure it really is something to get all our knickers in a knot. But now, not so sure.
I looked over the list you put up and the pacis we use and the sippy cups are both on there. But, now I'm freaking out over our water. I buy the 2.5 gallon container and keep it in my fridge. Now, I need to find out if that's going to hurt us.
Always something. Like I don't have enough to freak out over, I now have to worry about this?! I'm rather tired of products we use becoming products that will harm us.
Thanks for all the info. Morons like me SUCK at researching things like this, so when you give all this info? I heat you even more :)
i'm starring this article for when i have a baby of my own to fret over. :)
I registered for the Born Free bottles when all of this started and figured I'd recycle all of Little Man's old bottles, because I figure I can't reuse them now...
It seems there's always something new, sure. But at the same time, I can't feel like I'm a good mom if I'm just choosing to ignore potentially dangerous situations. Yes, the world is full of scary things and the list just keeps getting longer. But I figure, it's my job as a mother to keep my kids safe. And if switching to glass bottles is something I can do, well, I figure that's pretty easy to do, so why wouldn't I.
Man oh man, it truly is stressful to think about.
I hear ya on all of it!
I'm not sure where I stand, all I do know is that we will be disposing of all the plastic bottles we used with the bunny and will use either the playtex drop ins (cuz I have the bottle systems that go with) or glass bottles for this new baby.
As for the water cooler bottles--I'm not sure where I stand. We fill our own water bottles and rinse them each time we go. They aren't put under high heat and I would think that over time, any of the harmful chemicals would have come out of them? I don't know what's worse, the softened water out of our taps or the water cooler bottles? I did look into glass water cooler bottles, but we decided against it due to chances of them breaking, their weight and the number of trips per week we would have to make to refill them.
Darn you! Now this has invaded my subconscious mind and it's all I can think about.
I looked at all our sippy cups and they are on the safe list. I just tossed out all of our fruit in cups and am investigating this tupperware issue.
I got to thinking about it and I just can't take the chance, like other commenters have said. If other countries are already starting to ban these plastics, that says something huge.
So thank you so much again for your post!
To Welcome to our World:
I found these bamboo dish ware on Safe Mama site. http://bambuhome.com/
This is a really great post, too! There are so many things for us to worry about, some are probably harmless, others aren't. I have my head in the sand about so many things mainly because it's so overwhelming.
Thanks for this list of things that are safe.
Stumbling this post, too.
Great resource list & adorable blog.
Found you through Jennifer aka Playgroupie. Stumbled as well.
Love to ya,
Alli aka Mrs Fussypants
http://fussypants.typepad.com
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