The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports this week that they have not found any reason for concern when it comes to the safety of Bisphenol A (BPA) found in plastics commonly used to make baby bottles and other products. However, the article on WebMD regarding the FDA findings is somewhat vague and many organizations, such as HealthyChild.org, feel that the FDA is wrong to come to this conclusion so quickly. And, I have to agree with them.
First of all, the FDA draft report doesn’t state conclusively that BPA is safe, instead they remain very vague about their findings stating:
“Safe or safety means that there is reasonable certainty in the minds of competent scientists that the substance is not harmful under the intended conditions of use,” but “complete certainty of absolute harmlessness is scientifically impossible to establish.”
Secondly, the FDA studies that resulted in this conclusion were funded by the chemical industry.
Lastly, the FDA study only involved the obvious, immediate impact of high doses of BPA on rodents, however other studies suggest that the real danger may be related to long-term damage due low levels of exposure during early brain development.
It seems to me that the FDA has been very quick to dismiss the danger of BPA on our developing babies…perhaps due to pressure from the industry or perhaps to avoid mass panic? Whatever they’re reason, I have to think that there is more to the story, especially considering other countries have already banned BPA in baby bottles, such as Canada.
What are your thoughts? Will you continue to purchase products that may contain BPA in light of the FDA study or will you opt for potentially safer alternatives?
Read more about Bisphenol A:
Polycarbonate Plastics and Your Family’s Health
Bisphenol A Found in Infant Formula Cans
BPA Products Being Pulled Off the Shelves
Guide to Safer Infant Formula and Baby Bottles
The FDA report overlooks the over 100 peer reviewed low dose exposure laboratory animal studies and relies only on industry-funded studies. The FDA report uses a concentration of BPA in formula of 2.5, where the FDA’s own studies show a max concentration of 13 in infant formula. why the difference?
It seems to me that it is better to be safe than sorry. BPA is a known synthetic estrogen – it was investigating along with DES in the 1930′s. DES was supposed to be safe too.
Why take the risk when available alternates exist? I’ll skip polycarbonate plastic for food storage, and choose fresh, dried, frozen or jarred over canned foods and beverages.
Plus, I found “Andy’s Take” (the Commissioner of Food & Drug’s blog) on BPA safety smug and paternalistic. Got a blog on that topic.
Jennifer
http://www.thesmartmama.com
Recently, numerous publications have been writing about the dangers of BPA and phthalates and many companies are jumping on board promoting baby bottles and other plastics as BPA free.
Moms everywhere are ditching their baby bottles, binkies and sippy cups for newly marketed BPA-free ones. However, BPA and phthalates are just two of several hundred chemicals that exhibit estrogenic activity (EA) in plastics. Estrogenic activity occurs when chemicals are ingested that mimic or block the actions of naturally occurring estrogens, the female sex hormone. Studies have proven the fetus, newborn and young child is particularly vulnerable. Health-related problems as a result of estrogenic activity 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.
Chemicals having EA leach from almost all plastics sold today. That is, plastics advertised as BPA-free or phthalate-free are not EA-free. Almost all these plastics still leach chemicals that contain EA. In fact, our data at PlastiPure show that all the plastics commercially available today do release chemicals with easily detectable EA. The FDA has yet to examine this broader problem. The amount that leaches from any one item may be small, but the cumulative effect of leaching from many items is significant and can be detected in the blood and tissues of almost all of us. And our children are the most susceptible.
Unfortunately, current legislation is attempting to solve this problem by removing chemicals having EA like BPA and phthalates just one at a time. This approach is ineffective since thousands of chemicals still used in plastics exhibit EA, not just BPA and phthalates.
The appropriate health-driven solution is to manufacture safer plastics that are completely 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 plastics on the market today. In fact, some of these advanced-technology EA-free plastics are already in the marketplace. The cost of safer, EA-free plastics is just pennies more than EA-releasing plastics when both are used to manufacture the same product in similar quantities.
My issue with buying BPA-free plastics is we don’t know what manufacturers are replacing this chemical with. We have no way of knowing if the altered products are in fact safer than those containing BPA. This is why I feel it is so important to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regimen so that we, and our children, are at optimal health, thus giving our natural detoxing organs the best environment in which to do their jobs.