If you’ve had a baby in the last few years, you’ve probably heard about concerns over Bisphenol A. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block that is used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.  Most of the food and beverage cans available today are coated with BPA and most plastic baby bottles are made from BPA.  There have been suspected health risks since the 1930’s including cancer and reproductive and developmental problems.  Recently, researchers have found evidence that BPA is leaching into baby formula (or whatever liquid is in the bottle) from worn or scratched plastic baby bottles.  This obviously has caused a lot of concern among parents of babies that are fed from a bottle.

Just this past week, the Huffington Post reported on the latest meeting of major food and beverage manufacturers (Coca-Cola, Alcoa, Crown, North American Metal Packaging Alliance, Inc., Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), American Chemistry Council, Del Monte) to discuss BPA and how to handle the public outrage.  Instead of finding alternative packaging and manufacturing processes, these companies are putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into marketing to change our minds about BPA.  With legislatures moving to ban baby bottles made with BPA, and possibly food packaging in the future, these companies are worried about losing money.  With research like this, their greed is highly offensive:

“Retha Newbold, the pioneering DES researcher who conducted the NIEHS study, said her findings suggest that bisphenol A could be associated with endometriosis and uterine fibroids, which are the leading cause of 600,000 hysterectomies performed anually on U.S. women.”

Shocking, isn’t it?

You may be wondering what you can do to keep your baby as far from BPA as you can. Here are some ideas:

1. Breastfeed:  Nurse your baby from birth and for as long as you can.  As long as you eat a reasonably healthy diet and don’t ingest harmful substances your baby will thrive on your breast milk.  There is nothing harmful about breastfeeding.

2. Use glass:  Ditch the plastic. I used glass baby bottles with my daughter.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were cheaper than plastic.  The Evenflo bottles I bought were heavy duty and survived being dropped many times.  You can even get a soft silicone cover that protects the glass and helps you keep a firm grip.  Also, glass is so much easier to clean.  Not only have I replaced my baby’s bottles with glass but also many of my food storage containers.

Evenflo Classic 4 oz Glass Nurser - 3 Pack:  $7.99

3. Invest in BPA free plastic bottles:  Several forward thinking companies have already addressed the BPA concerns by manufacturing baby bottles made from safe plastics.  They may cost more, but the benefits and peace of mind are priceless.

BornFree 5 oz. BPA-Free Wide Neck Bottles, Twin-Pack: $13.00

If you would like to read more about BPA, head over to The Bisphenol A Portal.

Image Source: thedailygreen

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