BPA- what is it and why should we care?

If you haven't heard yet, BPA is bad for you. What is BPA?

Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound that is an important monomer in the production of polycarbonate. Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products grabbed headlines in 2008 when several governments issued reports questioning its safety, and some retailers pulled products made from it off their shelves. (from Wikipedia)

As an employee of a retailer that sold water bottles I was first made aware of BPA by a frantic email from corporate telling us to pull all our water bottles. I later learned that BPA can leach out of the product that contains it and enter the human body. When inside the body, it mimics hormones (such as estrogen). This "estrogenicity" has been linked to Breast Cancer in several studies.

So I thought, great, I will switch to a stainless steel water bottle (or my Stroller strides bottle which is BPA free). But I forgot about the baby! Here I was giving the little one a bottle filled with BPA (and milk). So soon after switching out the BPA for me, I found BPA free bottles for Ethan. I strongly suggest you mommies do the same, especially since the earlier the exposure to BPA, the higher the risks! Here is a list of BPA free baby bottles. I use the medela ones since they match up to my pump.

Read more about BPA on Seventh Generation's blog, the Biography of BPA...