When we first had our son over 8 months ago, the gifts and registry items started to pour in. Then, we started talking about our new journey into parenthood with some new parents: enter the BPA scare! Were our new baby bottles, nipples, pacifiers, teething rings, etc. BPA free? Anything that was not BPA free was returned or thrown out!

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BPA – or Bisphenol A – is an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1960s. It is often used in containers that store food and beverages, such as water bottles, to help make plastic bottles clear and shatter proof. They may also be used in other consumer goods. Some research has shown that BPA can seep into food or beverages from containers that are made with the chemical. There are several recent studies that point to adverse affects in animal test studies with even low levels of BPA.

A recent American Medical Association study reported a strong link between high levels of BPA and heart disease and diabetes. If these reports have any truth to them, then companies should not be selling products, especially baby bottles and gear, containing BPA and parents should not be buying these products. Eight months ago, we ended up buying these tremendous sized, funny orange colored pacifiers from Holland that were very costly, just because they were BPA free. At the time, most major companies like Dr. Browns, Avent, and Born Free did not produce BPA free pacifiers. At least now, they all have BPA free products!

I was happy to learn the other day that Senator Charles Schumer unveiled new legislation to ban the controversial toxic chemical BPA nationwide from all food and beverage containers marketed for children 3 years old and under. Interesting how Canada became the first nation to forbid sales of BPA last year!

Baby bottle feeding photo by Lucy Wolski on Unsplash