Organic Baby Blog – News & Tips on Organic Parenting

Should We Be Afraid of BPA?

May 18th, 2009 by

In the wake of some nationally groundbreaking laws being passed to ban the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups containing the chemical BPA, many people are hitting Google to find out what the concern is all about.  I wanted to quickly outline for you what BPA is and some of the concerns over it that have led such bodies as the country of Canada, the state of Minnesota, and now the city of Chicago to take steps toward the restriction of this chemical in products intended for use by babies.

BPA or Bisphenol A is a chemical used in the production of some plastics and has been suspected of being harmful to humans since the 1930’s.  Over time it can leach into the contents of a plastic container, especially containers that have been exposed to heat or strong detergents such as in a microwave or dishwasher.  Some studies have connected BPA to quite a few nasty things including but not limited to reproductive disorders, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and even obesity.  There is still a debate over whether or not BPS is actually harmful enough to humans to merit being labeled toxic.  However, it should be noted that Walmart stopped selling food containers, water and baby bottles, sippy cups, and pacifiers containing bisphenol A in all of it’s Canadian stores and planned on phasing out the products in US stores during 2009.  Earlier this year chemical giant Sunoco announced that it would be refusing to sell the chemical to any company planning on using it in the production of food and water containers for children younger than 3.  A recent study of note comes for Harvard University and the CDC involving 77 Harvard students showed some startling results.  The joint study showed the students as having a 70% increase in urinary levels of BPA after drinking cold liquid from plastic bottles made with BPA for one week.

If this information makes you want to steer clear of BPA here is how to identify it in plastics.  Look for the small recycling looking symbol with the number in it on the bottom of the container.  This is called the resin identification code and is used to show the family of plastics your container comes from.  Types 3 and 7 are the two that may contain BPA.  The other major source is canned foods that have a plastic lining.

It is scary that we use such risky chemicals in our day to do lives but extremely encouraging that these days such attention is brought to these issues as public awareness seems to be growing all the time.

Tags: baby, bottles, BPA