I don't easily jump on the "extreme views" bandwagon. I've been researching and contemplating BPA and phthalates ever since the Eco-weirdos brought it to our attention. I've made mental notes and just been careful not to heat food up in plastics, styrofoam, etc...
My wonderful husband, knowing that I've been pondering all things BPA, brought home an article from the USA Today, last week. The article was about how the FDA, knowing that BPA and phthalates were 10 times worse that what they had originally published, didn't release that information to the public. BPA has been linked to diabetes, cancer, stomach and gastro disorders. In Canada, they've declared it a dangerous toxin and banned it from all children's items.
Needless to say I went on a cleansing of no. 7 plastics from my home. There were lots of water bottles, but not nearly as many food storage containers, which surprised me. The only storage container was Rubbermaid Stain Shield (for those of you who want to know). There is a great website with cheat-sheets- www.safemama.com
Also, in the throw away pile were the baby bottles that I was hoping to use for baby #2. Oh well, probably for the best, plus they were kind of annoying with all the 50 million pieces that fit together and had to be washed.
You may think that I went way overboard, but the way BPA leaches from plastics is by putting hot liquid in it or heating it up inside the container. This is exactly, how we've used the baby bottles and other containers, so with all of the gastro problems in this household, I'd rather be safe(r) that sorry.
8 comments:
Hey, many of the baby bottles in the stores now have BPA free stickers on the boxes...so those should be fairly easy to replace... another concern was having a plastic bottle (with water or soda bought at a gas station, grocery store, etc...) and them being left in the car (because of the heat...)
As someone who does tend to jump on the "extreme views" bandwagon, we have been slowly replacing plastics in our home since Libby was born (Ben had to sort of talk me down from my freakish impulse to rid our home of any plastic items - food-related or otherwise). I know there is always that new dangerous thing that we are sent into frenzies about, but I suppose we have to just pick what we're going to make an issue of. Plastics was an issue for me. Doing away with it has been easier than I thought it would be.
I feel justified in my extreme opinion now that all of this new, more mainstream info has been coming out. When Ben's mom first saw our little ones drinking out of Klean Kanteens, I really had some explaining to do to make myself not look like the biggest idiot ever.
By the way Jen, I went to Target tonight to replace the baby bottles I initially bought (soothie starter set). I found out by researching that soothies are BPA free, but not the bottles! I replaced them with gerber and evenflo....also found out that my pump bottles are BPA free because they have drop-ins. Then I thought of my 2 yr. old's sippy cups. Happily, she'll be drinking BPA free tomorrow...=)
Yeah, Dave and I switched our water bottles and I'm planning on switching baby bottles for Baby #2 since they now make mine BPA-free too. I haven't quite made it to the storage containers though.
Is BPA linked to placenta brains, loosing one's self control with the husband or rationalizing things that most would think are absolutely crazy? Because it would explain a lot in my house.
hahaha! Sally, I don't know... maybe :0)
I don't know if they are still doing it, but Babiesrus was/is giving store credit for all "unsafe" bottles that you bring in, but you have to use the credit on getting safe bottles. Amy Chilton got like $40 back and a couple other people I know did it too! Might be worth checking into, unless you already threw them out.
thanks Hez
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