Saturday, November 21, 2015

How BPA free should you be?


Very often on many bottles and other plastic products for baby, the 'Free BPA' mention is included. Curious to learn more about baby life I tried to figure out what are the main issues with that and this is what I discovered:
- BPA stands for Bisphenol A, an industrial chemical substance used since the 1960s to produce various plastics and resins. Is is a colorless solid soluble in organic solvents but poorly soluble in waters.
- It is used for the production of various consumer goods, containers that store foods and beverages, baby formula cans and sippy cups, bottle tops, food cans, but also dental sealants, contact lenses and CDs. Also some shields of pacifiers can have this ingredients, but not the nipple. 
- Plastics marked with recycle codes 3 or 7 may be made with BPA.
- According to medical studies, once the BPA seep into food or beverages through heating, it may lead to negative effects on the brain and behavior of children - ADHD -, prostate gland of fetuses, infants and children. However, there are not definitive studies and not direct evidence that BPA may create such problems. 
- At low exposure, most experts say that studies shows that the material is acceptably safe.
- The National Institute of Environmental Health Science advices against microwaving polycarbonate plastics and putting them in the dishwasher. Plastic can break dow and it allows BPA to leach into foods.
- In order to avoid BPA-related risks it is recommended to use as alternatives products made of glass, porcelain or stainless. Also, do not use those with BPA for hot foods and liquids. It is better to throw up any plastic products - like bottles or sippy cups - that are chopped or cracked. Besides the BPA risks, such problematic products can also harbor germs.
- Many companies started to produce alternatives to the BPA in canned foods. 
- BPA-free does not mean that the products are free from other harmful chemical ingredients that are included in the category of hormone disruptors (substance that interfere with the normal functioning of the hormone or endocrine system, by duplicating, blocking or exaggerating hormonal responses. In most cases, the effects of these substances was not studied yet.

After going through all the materials regarding BPA, my conclusion is that I will try if possible to use BPA-free bottles and where the mention about this substance does not exist, to be careful with the overused products. Knowledge is power but exaggeration never helps.

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