A 2008 report by American and Canadian environmental researchers entitled "Baby's Toxic Bottle" found that plastic polycarbonate baby bottles leach dangerous levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical that, when heated, mimics natural hormones and can send bodily processes into disarray.
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Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that some baby bottles contain chemicals that can cause health problems for babies? If so, how can I find alternatives that are safer?
-- Amy Gorman, Berkeley, CA
No links connecting specific human illnesses to chemicals oozing out of baby bottles have been proven definitively. Nonetheless, many parents are heeding the call of scientists to switch to products with less risk. A 2008 report by American and Canadian environmental researchers entitled "Baby's Toxic Bottle" found that plastic polycarbonate baby bottles leach dangerous levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic chemical that mimics natural hormones and can send bodily processes into disarray, when heated.
All six of the leading brands of baby bottles tested—Avent, Disney/The First Years, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex—leaked what researchers considered dangerous amounts of BPA. The report calls on major retailers selling these bottles‚ including Toys'R'Us, Babies'R'Us, CVS, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart, to switch to safer products.
According to the report, BPA is a developmental, neural and reproductive toxicant that mimics estrogen and can interfere with healthy growth and body function. Researchers cite numerous animal studies demonstrating that the chemical can damage reproductive, neurological and immune systems during critical stages of development. It has also been linked to breast cancer and to the early onset of puberty.
So what's a concerned parent to do? Glass bottles are a tried-and-true chemical-free solution, and they are widely available, though very breakable. To the rescue are several companies making BPA-free plastic bottles (out of either PES/polyamide or polypropylene instead of polycarbonate). Some of the leaders are BornFree, thinkbaby, Green to Grow, Nuby, Momo Baby, Mother's Milkmate and Medela's. These brands are available at natural foods stores, directly from manufacturers, or from online vendors.
Most of the major brands selling BPA-containing bottles are now also offering or planning to offer BPA-free versions of their products. Consumers should read labels and packaging carefully to make sure that any product they are considering buying says unequivocally that it does not contain the chemical.
Unfortunately, switching to a BPA-free bottle is no guarantee the chemical won't make its way into your baby's bloodstream anyway. BPA is one of the 50 most-produced chemicals in the world. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), it is used in everything from plastic water jugs labeled #7 to plastic take-out containers, baby bottles and canned food liners. It is so omnipresent that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has found that 95 percent of Americans have the chemical in their urine.
Also, nursing mothers—especially those who haven't discarded their old BPA-containing Nalgene water bottles—may be passing the chemical along through their breast milk. And if that weren't enough, BPA is also used in the lining of many metal liquid baby formula cans. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) has posted email links to the consumer affairs offices of the major formula manufacturers so concerned parents can ask them to remove BPA from their product offerings and packaging.
CONTACTS: Baby's Toxic Bottle Report, www.chej.org/documents/BabysToxicBottleFinal.pdf; NRDC, www.nrdc.org; CDC, www.cdc.gov; EWG, www.ewg.org.
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7 Comments
Add Commenthey, i don't want eat that crap either, take it out of everything specifically intended for food storage!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@#$% FDA, give 'em enough money and they will approve anything for human consumption.
The BPA link to hormonal and other changes HAS been proven. For a truly in-depth story, go to http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/the-real-story-on-bpa.html. Providing a quick answer to a mother's question is admirable, but sloppy reporting is not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe danger of BPA has been overstated. See:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.1033/pub_detail.asp
Given its environmental prevalance perhaps BPA should be researched with respect to other rapidly spreading medical issues such as autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLegislators, consumers, and regulatory agencies should have well-justified concerns about the estrogenic activity (EA) exhibited by BPA and phthalates in water bottles and other plastics like baby bottles. While estrogens (the female sex hormones) occur naturally in the body, many scientific studies have shown that significant health problems can occur when chemicals are ingested that mimic or block the actions of these female sex hormones; the fetus, newborn, or young child is especially vulnerable. These health-related problems include early puberty in females, reduced sperm counts in males, altered functions of reproductive organs, obesity, altered behaviors, and increased rates of some breast, ovarian, testicular, and prostate cancers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, BPA and phthalates are just two of several hundred chemicals that exhibit EA in plastics. These chemicals having EA leach from almost all plastics sold today, including polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, etc. That is, plastics advertised as BPA-free or phthalate-free are not EA-free; almost all these plastics still leach chemicals having EA and often have more total EA than plastics that release BPA or phthalates. In fact, our data show that all the plastics commercially available currently release chemicals having easily detectable EA. The FDA, to my knowledge, has not yet examined this broader problem. the amount that leaches from any one item may be small; the cumulative effect of leaching from many items is significant and can be detected in the blood and tissues of almost all of us.
Current legislation is attempting to solve this problem by removing chemicals having EA (BPA, phthalates) one at a time.
This approach, for legislators or the FDA, is not an appropriate solution for consumers because thousands of chemicals used in plastics exhibit EA, not just BPA and phthalates. This approach is a marketing-driven solution, not a health-driven solution. The appropriate health-driven solution is to manufacture safer plastics that are EA-free. This is not a pie-in-the-sky solution, as the technology already exists to produce EA-free plastics that also have the same advantageous physical properties, as do almost all existing EA-releasing plastics on the market today. In fact, some of these advanced-technology EA-free plastics are already in the marketplace. The cost of these safer EA-free plastics are just pennies more than EA-releasing plastics, when both are used to manufacture the same product in similar quantities.
Legislators, consumers, and regulatory agencies should have well-justified concerns about the estrogenic activity (EA) exhibited by BPA and phthalates in water bottles and other plastics like baby bottles. While estrogens (the female sex hormones) occur naturally in the body, many scientific studies have shown that significant health problems can occur when chemicals are ingested that mimic or block the actions of these female sex hormones; the fetus, newborn, or young child is especially vulnerable. These health-related problems include early puberty in females, reduced sperm counts in males, altered functions of reproductive organs, obesity, altered behaviors, and increased rates of some breast, ovarian, testicular, and prostate cancers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, BPA and phthalates are just two of several hundred chemicals that exhibit EA in plastics. These chemicals having EA leach from almost all plastics sold today, including polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, etc. That is, plastics advertised as BPA-free or phthalate-free are not EA-free; almost all these plastics still leach chemicals having EA – and often have more total EA than plastics that release BPA or phthalates. In fact, our data show that all the plastics commercially available currently release chemicals having easily detectable EA. The FDA, to my knowledge, has not yet examined this broader problem. the amount that leaches from any one item may be small; the cumulative effect of leaching from many items is significant and can be detected in the blood and tissues of almost all of us.
Current legislation is attempting to solve this problem by removing chemicals having EA (BPA, phthalates) one at a time. This approach, for legislators or the FDA, is not an appropriate solution for consumers because thousands of chemicals used in plastics exhibit EA, not just BPA and phthalates. This approach is a marketing-driven solution, not a health-driven solution. The appropriate health-driven solution is to manufacture safer plastics that are EA-free. This is not a pie-in-the-sky solution, as the technology already exists to produce EA-free plastics that also have the same advantageous physical properties, as do almost all existing EA-releasing plastics on the market today. In fact, some of these advanced-technology EA-free plastics are already in the marketplace. The cost of these safer EA-free plastics are just pennies more than EA-releasing plastics, when both are used to manufacture the same product in similar quantities.
I doing a big assignmenttt on this article due 2moro and i need to cite it but it has no authorrr pleasseee help mee
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