By now you've probably heard about Bisphenol-A, the estrogen-mimicking component of some polycarbonate plastics which is found in most baby bottles and some formula cans. I posted about its health effects last year.
BPA has been in the news quite a bit this week, with a Los Angeles Times article reporting that the National Institutes of Health now expresses "some concern" that BPA may harm fetuses and infants, and with the news that the Canadian government yesterday banned BPA from baby bottles, deeming it a toxic substance. There were reports that Walmart has started pulling bottles with BPA off shelves. Nalgene announced that it would get rid of BPA in its bottles and started pulling remaining stock off the shelves, and Senator Charles Schumer announced he'd introduce a bill in the U.S. Senate to ban BPA from bottles, dental sealants, and food containers.
The plastics industry representatives, through the years of debate, has maintained the BPA is safe, but it seems pretty clear that the market is going to have the last word on this one. Nearly every family I meet these days has heard of BPA, and all of those Avent bottles I used to see pumping moms use have been replaced by Born Free and Medela bottles. I might add that I started noticing moms making this switch before the federal reports started coming out. We're such smart cookies.
So, while it seems to me that the manufacturers are already backed into a corner, we might as well take the opportunity to wag our finger at them. After all, as late as Thursday a representative of the plastics industry was offering his "reassurance" that products made with BPA are safe.
Check out this Moms Rising petition which they'll send to the manufacturers of the major manufacturers of baby bottles, asking that they discontinue using BPA in their bottles.
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