FDA Says BPA is Safe. Researchers Say Probably Not.
"...critics questioned why the FDA based that ruling on three studies funded by the chemical industry, all of which found BPA to be safe at current exposure levels. Hundreds of independent studies in animals and cells suggest the estrogen-like chemical poses serious risks."
New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows a link between diabetes and heart disease in adults and the high levels of BPA found in urine. The FDA is being urged to, at the very least, consider research that isn't funded by the chemical industry and require warning labels on products containing BPA. Others feel the chemical should be banned or replaced with something else that's been thoroughly tested and is truly safe.
I wrote about this before, and I know a lot of you have already switched to BPA-free products or are in the process (an ongoing poll here on the site says 77 percent of you are switching and 13 percent are thinking about it). I have to admit that I've been on the fence about this issue and have been waiting for some definitive answers. I know that animal studies have shown that it can be harmful but animal studies and what happens in the human body aren't always the same. Not to oversimplify the matter, but what do animal studies on cats and Tylenol yield? That just one pill can be fatal to a cat. How about dogs and chocolate? Of course most of us know that it's toxic to dogs. But Tylenol and I do all right together and chocolate and I are quite good friends.
Is this one of those situations where I trust my government and believe that my family is safe because they say it's so? I could, but what concerns me is that in one breath they are saying that it's safe and in the next they are saying, "Oh, but just in case, here are some ways that you can minimize your risk." It's one of those choices that I have to make and I figure erring on the side of caution can't hurt anyone. I'm glad my son is past the age where we have to worry about a lot of products (like bottles and cups, we already use mostly glass, thankfully) but I just checked the Rubbermaid site and, lo and behold, my storage containers (Premier and Stainshield) have BPA in them. I'm really at the point where I just want to be done with plastic completely and think I'm going to use Pyrex or other glass. I say that, but I was happy that the Litterless Juice Boxes, which we do use almost daily, don't have any BPA. Those will be hard to replace unless I move to unlined stainless steel, since glass + lunchboxes = disaster.
Since so many of you said you are making the switch, how has it been coming along? What are you using now? Did you move to a different plastic or to glass? Has it been hard? Are you trying to minimize or eliminate it altogether?
More Resources on Bisphenol A Including Lists of Safe Baby Bottles and Cups
Comments
My son was born in May, and I had no trouble finding a BPA-free bottle for him. I’m very careful about ruling out products just because of a trend, but the BPA research is definitely out there. And considering that this chemical is directly ingested & dispersed into their little bodies, I’m not willing to take the chance. There are a number of great websites (the best I’ve found are zrecs.blogspot.com and safemama.com) that have TONS of helpful info, include BPA-safe product lists – you can even search Amazon.com for “BPA free” and get a list of products. BPA-free does NOT necessarily mean you must use glass, either. There are many BPA-free and phthalate-free plastic bottles out there, even ones designed for colic & reflux!
I just think it’s funny that if there is this much contraversy and research done over a chemical, product, what-have-you and there is proof that it is not safe and other countries have banned the sale of products in that catagory, that the good old USA keeps it on the market. Thats also the same reason we have totally sold out and let other countries with no regulations make all our consumer based products. We are slowly self destructing. We are so “advanced” we’re gonna kill ourselves because it’s….better for the economy….? Ell then, if the good old FDA says it safe, it must be……. NO!!!
Wait, Meghan… it’s good for the economy? Then what’s going on right now?
Ha. Seriously, though, this is how I feel, too. Like I should be able to trust the FDA and yet my gut tells me that I can’t. Not to get political, but I hope that the person elected this year is serious about reforming government since both have made that pledge. It would be a good thing and there’s no shortage of places to start.
NashvilleMama, thanks for pointing folks to those resources. And, you know, I know that it doesn’t mean you *have* to go to glass, but this whole deal has me thinking like this: I began caring for infants almost 20 years ago and it was around then that I started seeing a trend of more and more plastic baby bottles. Some parents still brought glass into the day care setting. Somewhere in there (maybe 1993?) the center where I was working disallowed glass bottles altogether. I’m not sure if it was a licensing safety thing or just a preference, but after that it was all plastic bottles, all the time. My son was born 13 years ago. So, that’s a lot of years of BPA containing bottles, cups, toys, can liners and whatnot that I’ve seen used on babies and toddlers. Most of those years I was not aware of any risk whatsoever — I mean, it wasn’t even on my radar and I think that’s true of a lot of average consumers.
There’s the rub. So, what am I using NOW that is going to be considered dangerous and unsafe in 10 years? In 20 years? How much damage will be done by something else that I don’t know about but that scientists are concerned about yet is still allowed to come into use (and in the very places where it could cause the most harm). I feel a little (but only a little) like moms back in the day who were prescribed thalidomide for morning sickness only to have babies born with birth defects because of it. I guess I feel like glass has a pretty good track record vs. anything else that’s only been around for a hundred years or less…
I wrote an article about BPA in my Mommy Myth Buster blog as well (the article is at http://tinyurl.com/42jflk). The thing that most people don’t understand is that BPA is only released from plastic at high temperatures, for example if your baby were to drink boiling water out of the bottle. Once the plastic returns to room temperature, or is cold, BPA is not released. I am all for people choosing not to use BPA plastic for their babies if that makes them feel better. But what really gets under my skin is when people say it is because “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” These same people drive their kids in a car everyday – an activity that is proven to be relatively unsafe compared to drinking out of plastic cups. They ignore the measurable danger of transporting children by motor vehicle, but passionately latch on to the dubious (even negligible) danger of drinking from a plastic container. Where’s the logic?
It’s a matter of trust and betrayal. Reduction of avoidable risk, with choice based on accurate scientific information. I grew up in the generation that without a question believed that if it was on store shelves it was safe. The FDA was watching and protecting us. We now know that is not true, as evidenced by RBGH, trans-fats, MANY prescription drugs that have been later withdrawn from the market, etc., etc., etc.
As evidenced here, the FDA and the scientific community are again in disagreement. We are in a relatively new era, longterm effects are NOT known for every substance to which we are exposed, against our will in many cases. Not to mention the cumulative combined effects of the chemical soup that is now a part of our normal daily life today.
We do know that Cancer in all it’s forms, Autism, heart disease, and many other ailments that used to be fairly rare are at all time highs. How many people do you know personally who have had serious health problems like Cancer. I personally know quite a few, as a matter of fact, just about everyone I know has or has had one ailment or another. AIDS is said to be an epidemic, and I don’t personally know of any victims. So which is more widespread, and what are the causes? We know what causes AIDS, but can anyone tell us exactly what caused my husband’s Cancer??
When it comes to water bottles, the opaque kind always were BPA-free, and now the clear hard plastic (such as Lexan, Nalgene) are being reformulated to be BPA-free. The disposable kind were always BPA-free.
BPA-Free Water Bottles
I am less worried about the plastic containers that I don’t heat things in, since studies have shown no detectable leaching under most circumstances.
I am more worried now about canned goods. Even organic food lines say they can’t be sure their cans are not lined with BPA-containing epoxy. They don’t make their own cans and must rely on suppliers. It may well take legislation to get BPA out of can linings.
My response will be to do more of my own food prep from fresh ingredients. I’m slow roasting and freezing tomatoes, for example. I’ll make my chili from dried beans rather than the convenience of pre-cooked canned beans. I won’t be able to go whole hog on this, but a reduction of canned goods should be healthier in many ways.
Hi, I am an online parent organizer for the Environmental Working Group (EWG). In addition to our research and direct advocacy work related to environmental health, we have a For Parents page (www.ewg.org/forparents) with loads of useful links and tip sheets.
We’re also gearing up to engage parents around the country in national chemical reform. Learn more about the Kid Safe Chemicals Act here: http://www.ewg.org/kidsafe. If it passes, we parents could actually buy products for our kids without spending hours researching it first. How good does that sound?? Worth all the hard work it’ll take to pass it, in my mind.
I’ve tried to go BPA free as well. I switched to Avent Tempo from Avent regular because the drop-ins are BPA free. We know that plastics with numbers 1, 2 and 5 are BPA-free and that #7 contains BPA. #5 is what most food that comes in plastic comes in from the grocery store but in my town it is not recyclable. They only want 1 and 2. So is #5 safe? Baby food, sippys, cottage cheese, butter, etc all come in #5. Will this be our next concern? I am trying to go glass in babyfood for my 5 month-old since they are recyclable but it is a lot more expensive. And how crazy is this- I buy a brand of organic ground beef that has no hormones and antibiotics, etc, and it comes in #7 containers! That was a shocker! So here you try to defrost it in the microwave and leach all that BPA into the beef where you were trying to avoid extra chemicals. It is never ending….
What a bummer Nancy. I continue to feel really lucky when I hear folks talk about all the stuff their cities won’t take or all the sorting they have to do. My city takes plastics 1 through 7 and we don’t have to do sorting at all. Plastic, paper, glass, cans — everything goes in one giant roller bin.
And I think the organic beef being in the #7 containers is probably one of those cases of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, you know?