The FDA is not convinced that BPA (the chemical bisphenol A used in plastics and resins) is harmful to humans, but after pressure from the American Chemistry Council, the agency has formally banned its use in baby bottles and training/sippy cups.
In practice, most manufacturers and retailers of children's goods have voluntarily not used BPA for the past several years to allay parents' fears or concerns so the FDA's ban is mostly a formality.
As recently as March the FDA said it was still evaluating whether BPA had negative effects on humans. Their researchers found that: "Exposure to BPA in human infants is from 84 to 92 percent less than previously estimated." And, "BPA is rapidly metabolized and eliminated through feces and urine...The center's toxicology research has not found evidence of BPA toxicity at low doses in rodent studies, including doses that are still above human exposure levels."
BPA use in baby bottles and cups is already banned in the EU. Canada was the first to ban it, back in 2008. China followed suit in June, 2011.
Read more:
• FDA Bans Chemical BPA From Sippy Cups and Baby Bottles, NPR
• F.D.A. Makes It Official: BPA Can't Be Used in Baby Bottles and Cups, New York Times
• FDA Continues To Study BPA (March 2012), FDA
(Image: Shutterstock)
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Well, amen. I don't know how bad plastics are either, but it feels like parenting in this decade is about dutifully erring on the side of caution. So it's this endless pain researching everything to find the least-harmful (hopefully) option. I'm just passing back through it all again with a new baby, and it's still a pain researching everything he chews on.
But I do it. And I buy BPA free like everybody else. So go FDA! And more especially, all the parents slogging through safe buying for years before the FDA caved.
Next toxin!
We were behind CHINA on this one? Land of the melamine in baby formula? Yeesh. Took us long enough...
It is sad that our Government chooses to "reluctantly" ban something that is harming children, but I guess it wouldn't be the first time, in 1909 France, Belgium and Austria were the first to ban lead interior paint, whereas it took the USA until 1978!
I am begining to hate the FDA :/
Last year I talked to my company's water cooler provider to ask whether they had BPA-free water jugs (yes, I realize the best solution is to drink from the tap, but the water here tastes awful and yes, I gave it a full year of trying to get used to it before I joined the water club). The rep told me that yes, they have BPA-free jugs, but that she isn't convinced that the jug company doesn't just put in some other type of Bisphenol into the bottles -- something that hasn't been studied at all yet.
My point: there is a dearth of easily accessibly information about the harmfulness of most plastics as they relate to food consumption. I therefore think glass and some metals (e.g., high quality stainless steel) are the best for babies and young children. I transitioned my daughter to an open cup (shot glass, actually) when she was about six months old, so we skipped the sippy cup need entirely.