BPA is back in the news

FRIDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) — A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel agreed Friday that the agency had erred in August when it said that a chemical widely used in baby bottles and other plastic packaging for foods and beverages posed no health risks.Go HERE to read the rest of the article.

 

I got this from going crunchy – yet another person trying to stem the tide of plastic trash

BPA update

BPA or Bisphenol A has been in the news recently – lots of people are getting worried about the possible effects it has on your hormones. Pregnant women and babies are felt to be especially vulnerable.

Quick identification – plastics containing BPA are labeled with the number “7” identification code, BUT not all plastics labeled with the number “7” contain BPA. The number “7” code is assigned to the “Other” category, which includes all plastics not otherwise assigned to categories #1-6. See softlanding for more on this

BPA is also found in the white plastic linings of some cans though you wont know which ones until you open them….

Thankfully Heinze Beans are plastic free -

Please add to the plastic free tin list

Plastic In Us Studies

In 1998, Dr. Patricia Hunt of Case Western University in Ohio discovered that damaged or worn or warm plastics made from polycarbonate resin can leach biphenyl.

As I am sure you know – biphenyl is a chemical suspected of causing damage to the reproductive organs. Other studies have confirmed those findings and just recently Canada has banned the use biphenyl in babies bottles

BPA

Bisphenol A or BPA is it is known to its chums is used in polycarbonate plastics.  hard plastic  which look like glass but don’t break as dramatically.

It can also be found in the white plastic liners found in many cans these days as well as  microwave ovenware, eating utensils bottles (including baby bottles)

Its does not absorb flavours or change the flavour of food.

The chemical was invented in the 1930s during the search for synthetic estrogens.

In March 1998 a study in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) found that BPA simulates the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer cells.

A more recent study published in EHP shows a significant decrease of testosterone in male rats exposed to low levels of BPA. The study concludes that the new data is significant enough to evaluate the risk of human exposure to BPA.

BPA can leach into food from the epoxy linings in cans or from polycarbonate bottles. The rate increases if the containers are heated ie babies bottle being steralised.

BPA is considered by some to be  a hormone disruptor, a chemical that alters the body’s normal hormonal activity. Babies and unborn children are felt to be especially vulnerable.

In the last 10-15 years that concerns have been raised over its safety, particularly during pregnancy and for young babies.

In April 2008, the United States Department of Health and Human Services expressed concerns about it.

The Canadian government have just banned listed it a toxic substance and banned it from being used in baby bottles.
 
For more on this go to the green guide and the N Y Times

This too is a good site very clear more on BPA

Others say it is completely safe and that the safety levels for BPA in humans are set so hight you would have to eat a mountain of contaminated food before they were even approached

Dont Wash Your Plastic in Hot Water

Could sterilising plastic bottles in hot water do more harm than good? Scott Belcher and his colleagues at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio have found that polycarbonate plastic bottles release up to 55 times more bisphenol A (BPA) after they’ve been washed in boiling water.

BPA is found in many plastic food and drink containers and has been linked to breast and prostate cancer. Because they are often reused, Belcher wanted to test whether old containers leached BPA into their contents faster than new ones. His team filled new and used polycarbonate plastic bottles with water and kept them at room temperature for a week. They found that the rate of BPA release into the water by new and used bottles was an average of 0.49 nanograms an hour.

But when the team mimicked sterilisation by filling the bottles with boiling water and leaving them to cool, they found that the average rate of BPA release jumped to 18.67 nanograms per hour. This continued even after the bottles had cooled and been rinsed out (Toxicology Letters, DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2007.11.001).

While the levels of released BPA fall within safe limits as currently defined by the European Food Safety Authority, Belcher suggests switching to bottles made of high-density polyethylene as a precaution.

As reported in new scientist

Meanwhile Canada has already banned BPA in babaies bottles an American lawmakers are discussing banning BPA in childrens food products