Some BPA-Free Bottles Still Leach Bisphenol A

You're learning to recycle plastics (great!), but now you have probably heard reports of nervous consumers cleaning out their cupboards and closets of containers that experts are warning may not be safe to use. The good news is those recycling codes can help you protect your family, and The Daily Green will tell you how.

Though it's true regulators and the plastics industry are pointing out that the science on the real-world harms is not yet proven, many are saying the stakes are too high, and the alternatives too easy, to ignore. Read on to see which types of water and baby bottles you don't want to give your kids.

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Just as "microwave safe" containers aren't safe for those concerned about Bisphenol A, now it's been revealed that not all BPA-free baby bottles actually live up to the claim.

The test results, from Canada's health agency, showed detectable levels of the hormone-mimicking chemical from bottles that should not have contained Bisphenol A, and high levels in two of nine brands of baby bottle tested, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.

What's a parent to do? One option: Glass baby bottles.

Bisphenol A is found in hard plastics, baby bottles, the lining of food and beverage cans, the white coating on shiny receipts ... and in the bodies of about 9 in 10 U.S. residents.

Momentum is building to ban Bisphenol A in baby products sold in the U.S., as Canada has done: Recently Minnesota and Connecticut became the first states and Chicago the first city to ban its use in children's products, and Wisconsin may be next.

Several other states, and Congress, are considering bans on the use of Bisphenol A in children's products, in order to protect children at their most vulnerable from a chemical that mimics the human hormone estrogen. The Food and Drug Administration has not backed off its endorsement of the chemical as safe, despite independent research that suggests the chemical mimics hormones and could be linked to serious health problems, from diabetes to prostate cancer.

The FDA's stance -- which it determined based on two industry-funded studies and to the exclusion of dozens, if not hundreds, of independent scientific research raising serious questions about the safety of the chemical -- is coming under increasing fire from both within the U.S. and abroad.

As public concern over the chemical have mounted -- largely due to the reporting of the Heart of Green Award-nominated Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters over the last couple years -- major retailers and manufacturers like Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Nalgene (also recognized for Heart of Green Award consideration) have vowed to phase out the use of Bisphenol A in children's products. Even Sunoco, one of the chemical's biggest manufacturers, has stopped selling it to companies that might use it in a children's product.

Canada has banned Bisphenol A in many products for babies and young children, and Suffolk County, N.Y., could become the first government in the U.S. to do so. The National Toxicology Program has raised concerns about Bisphenol A's potential to disrupt the normal development of fetuses and babies, and the Environmental Protection Agency has been criticized for failing to consider the cumulative effect of hormone-disrupting chemicals that Americans are routinely exposed to.

For more information about Bisphenol A and the other ubiquitous hormone-disrupting chemical of the moment, phthalates, see The Daily Green's How to Avoid Bisphenol A and Phthalates.

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