Polycarbonate: The Plastic that Keeps on Giving…BPA

Janelle Sorensen
Healthy Child Healthy World
Last Updated: Monday, April 21, 2008

Last year major recreational retailers pulled polycarbonate water bottles off the shelves over concern that BPA could leach into the drinking water. Later in the year, the Environmental Working Group examined baby formula from cans and found that the epoxy lining was leaching BPA into the formula. The latest news is that polycarbonate baby bottles leach BPA into warm milk and formula.

While manufacturers argue that the exposures are too small to have any health impacts (their same old song and dance), studies are piling up linking BPA to breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, obesity, low sperm counts, miscarriage and a host of other reproductive failures in laboratory animals. It is also linked with immune system alterations, early puberty, developmental problems, insulin resistance, increased risk of type II diabetes, and hypertension. ,

It’s a shameful laundry list dirtied even further by a recent study showing that infants face the largest risk because their bodies do not yet produce the enzyme necessary to clear BPA from their system. “We can't say there are conclusive data in humans," says Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri, who headed the study. "But given the fact that we're seeing irreparable damage in animals, for heaven's sake, let's get this out of products our babies are coming in contact with." http://www.newsweek.com/id/105588

Enough is enough. It’s incorrigible that a chemical with such negative health implications is being used in products manufactured specifically for the population they could harm most, babies. Especially when they are absolutely unnecessary to human life. Safer bottles are available. Safer toys are available. Safer sippy cups are available. Safer dental sealants are available. Safer water bottles are available. Safer baby spoons are available. Safer formula cans are available.

We don’t need it. We don’t want it. And while we wait for industry and government to understand that, we don’t have to buy it.

BPA rules to remember:
• Steer clear of plastics with the number 7 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol. If it’s not labeled, call the manufacturer.
• If you use formula, opt for powdered.

For more info:
The Soft Landing – BPA, phthalate and PVC free feeding gear for babies and children

Dr. Galvez on Plastics and Childhood Exposure
Baby Formula Cans Lined with Dangerous BPA
Toxic Baby Bottles
BPA Video Clip from ABC News
Baby’s Toxic Bottle (The Work Group for Safe Markets)
Bisphenol-A Free
Guide to Baby-Safe Bottles and Formula

Back to Articles »