More Alarming News On BPA

More and more information is coming forward on the dangers of BPA. Bisphenol A is a harmful chemical found in polycarbonate plastic and is in an alarming amount of everyday products making our exposure to it off the charts. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that mimics the action of the human hormone estrogen and changes the natural pattern of the body. Some of the effects at even low BPA exposure include prostate cancer, breast cancer, early puberty onset, alterations in gender-specific behavior, decreased sperm count, affects on fertility, behavioral effects including hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, impaired learning and other changes in behavior. BPA might also be causing diabetes, aggressiveness, heart disease, and decreased sensitivity to chemotherapy in cancer patients.

BPA is contained in everything from baby bottles, sippy cups, water bottles, the lining of canned foods and canned infant formula just to name a few. The infants consuming canned formula are at the greatest risk from the leaching of BPA. They have also discovered that infants are being born with BPA in their systems already. BPA is being passed from the mothers body to the baby through the umbilical cord. Yikes! As if new mothers do not have enough concerns already now it is the baby bottles, sippy cups, canned formula and the amounts of BPA in the expectant mothers body. It is overwhelming!

We should not be heating up anything in the microwave or the oven that is in a hard plastic container, if BPA has not already leached into the food it will during the heating process, it actually leaks out 55 times faster than normal. The same heating issues apply to washing plastic containers in the dishwasher. I was shocked to know that the lining of canned food products contains BPA and it does leach into whatever is contained in the can. Below are some links you may find helpful and contain more information on BPA and a guide on plastics. As always, I may bring something to your attention but I always encourage you to do your own research...

http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1855853,00.html
http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=77083