Thoughts and Actions on BPA in water bottles
May 13th, 2008There has been quite a controversy over BPA in water bottles lately. As you know, one of our favorite programs is the “design your own bottle” activity at the start of camp. It gives each camper a chance to ‘get close with’ their bottle and make it theirs. We find that it really helps keep campers hydrated when they feel attached to their bottles.
This year, we did switch from the hard-plastic bottles to the soft plastic ones without BPA because of all the BPA fears (warranted or now). It means that our lamination may not stick quite as well, but for the session / summer it should do. They have been provided to us by Rubbermaid. Thanks, Rubbermaid!
Also, here is a personal email from a friend of a camp parent. She is a professional chemist, and her name is Kenna Butler. Thanks to her for this email (which is excerpted from a personal email to our camp parent):
“… I just had a long discussion about BPA (and other plasticizers & endocrine disruptors) with our resident endocrine disruptor expert. He does active BPA research, along with studying natural and synthetic estrogens in the environment - scary stuff! Anyway, he said that the problem with the research that was used to take Nalgene’s off the shelf was that the scientific research was performed by the same agency that has a hand in the regulatory side of things (National Institute of Health). The problem with science from a regulatory body is that it is inherently jaded by the industry & their research is regularly “edited” by non-scientist reviewers who don’t allow some information to come through. Therefore, there is a huge conflict of interest! BPA (and other compounds that are used in the polymerization (plastic making) process) is a biologically active synthetic molecule. It is released more as a polyethylene bottle gets older (contrary to my earlier thinking) and is released more during photolysis (exposure to the sun) and heating. A lot of plastic “water bottles” are not even made from polyethylene & therefore don’t contain BPA. HOWEVER, all plastics have “plasticizers” in them. These chemicals vary in their biological activity and carcinogenic behavior. Yes, BPA is one that is bad BUT there are some ethyl hexyl phthalates out there that are MUCH worse that haven’t gotten the press that BPA has. Ethyl hexyl phthalates are regularly used to help keep plastic soft - such as in “chew toys”. Incidentally, sealants for cavities in your teeth have BPA in them (according to my colleague) and you are likely exposed to more BPA when you get a tooth filled that in drinking liters and liters of bottle water. Instead of thinking about BPA, you may consider thinking in terms of plastics in general. These plasticizers are MUCH more potent “in utero”. So, pregnant women should really stay away from plastics. They become less potent after the baby is born.
So, what should you do? Get rid of chew toys for your babies, or any pliable plastic toys (rubber duckies) that your babies can’t keep out of their mouths. Don’t use saran wrap while cooking. Try to avoid cooking with plastic bowls (though, this is a hard one for me - I am trying, but the convenience factor of those tupperware things is so great). What about your baby bottles? Hmm. This is a hard one. Do what you are comfortable with. I used the drop-ins. I wasn’t educated about any of this at the time. Likely, had I to do it over again, I wouldn’t use plastic. By the time I figured these things out, my 2nd baby was 6 months old & I couldn’t justify buying all new stuff. I simply couldn’t afford to do it. If I had a 3rd, I would likely buy glass bottles. I would worry about them breaking though… Oh, another bit of advice: don’t use SIGG water bottles. They are aluminum. Aluminum cannot be used for water bottles, so they coat them on the inside with — you guessed it — plastic. There’s more BPA in there (or other plasticizers) than in your baby bottles. That’s why you can’t throw them in the dishwasher. Instead, stick with the Nalgene or buy stainless steel.
We all do what we can in this world. I can’t worry about it all. Right now, my biggest concern is a concussion or head trauma due to the fact that my 18 month old climbs everything & thinks he’s 4. His sippy cups are plastic. I use a plastic cup at the gym. Slathering your kids in insect repellant will expose them to more chemicals that drinking from a plastic bottle ever will.
Oh, lastly, don’t listen to [people] who get all of their information from Blogs or from websites that claim to have “scientific evidence” of something that promotes their platform. Just because you can google something or just because you read it in a scientific journal, doesn’t make it fact. Science, even gravity, is a tested hypothesis. There are very few “facts” in this world of science - just data that support one idea and refute another. Ok - I think I have ranted enough. I can’t stand it when the BRMs group goes on chemical debates. None of them, including me, have the “answer”. We are all just trying to do our best with the knowledge that we have & I wish they wouldn’t judge the others for their parenting choices…”
