Parents worry about chemical called BPA
Jessica Castaneda of Davenport is health-conscious, right down to what kind of baby bottles she chose for her 10-month-old son, Evan.
The 31-year-old chiropractor and mother of two said she primarily breast-feeds, but the baby does drink from a bottle when they are apart — and that led her to do some research.
She began looking specifically for plastic bottles made without the controversial chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, which recent studies say could cause behavioral changes in infants and children and trigger the early onset of puberty in females.
“They’re sometimes hard to find,” she said of BPA-free baby bottles. “I started out with glass bottles.”
She then changed to plastic Medela-brand bottles, which she said are BPA-free, and now she even buys sippy cups and other plastics that she knows do not contain the chemical.
The chemical is believed to leach out of certain plastics, usually those with the recycling code “7” on the bottom, when exposed to high temperatures such as boiling, going through dishwasher cycles or being left in a hot car.
But not everyone is rushing out to get new baby bottles or replacements for their plastic food and drink ware.
The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, said recent media reports are “unnecessarily confusing and frightening the public.” It said the Food and Drug Administration recognizes plastics made with BPA as safe and asked the FDA to update its review to better inform consumers.
Some say most people already have BPA in their system anyway. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found BPA in 93 percent of more than 2,500 urine samples taken from people 6 years and older.
However, the new concern is how BPA could affect young children, and some parents are deciding not to take any chances. Many are buying glass baby bottles, which can be found readily online but are not so common in Quad-City area stores.
Another recent development: Wal-Mart recently announced that it will stop selling baby bottles made with BPA in its U.S. stores early next year. It already halted sales in its Canadian stores of baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers, food containers and water bottles containing BPA.
Then, Toys R Us followed suit, announcing it would quit selling such products by the end of this year.
Spurred by customer demand, other retailers also are stocking products made without the chemical. A spokeswoman for Target said the chain began testing glass baby bottles in its stores during January and offering them online in February.
Officials with Babies R Us said the chain’s sales of glass bottles have increased fivefold since spring 2007. It began selling the popular BornFree glass and BPA-free bottles in its stores during November.
“Major retailers can be a force in effecting positive change,” said Mike Schade of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an environmental advocacy group, which has lobbied against the use of BPA. “Parents shouldn’t have to roll the dice with their children’s health at the checkout aisle.”
Concern about exposing infants to toxics is one of the reasons Amie Callahan of Moline thinks more moms should consider breastfeeding. An accredited leader of the La Leche League of the Quad-Cities, Callahan said she has breast-fed three of her children. She has one more child on the way and plans to feed the infant the same way.
“There are so many chemicals out there, so many things,” she said.
Another breastfeeding mother, Quad-City resident Michele Schroeder, said she would worry more about BPA if she exclusively bottle-fed her 8½-month-old son, Elliott. He drinks from a bottle only about three times a week, she said.
“My husband and I are not too overly concerned,” she said, but added that they chose a brand of bottles made without BPA.
“The FDA does say that these bottles (with BPA) are totally safe and that no harm has been found over the last 30 years since these bottles have been around,” she said. “But just because something is FDA-approved does not mean that it is safe, in my opinion.”
Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.
Which baby bottles are safe?
If your baby’s bottles are clear plastic with a recycling code “7” on the bottom, they probably contain the controversial chemical bisphenol A, or BPA.
But don’t just look at your bottles. Any type of food or drinking vessel, for either babies or adults, with that recycling code most likely contains the substance.
Some alternatives include unbreakable glass or BPA-free plastic bottles, including those made by BornFree (online at newbornfree.com). On a recent visit, a package of plastic bottles marked BPA-free was available at the Toys R Us store in Davenport.
Other ideas: Buy baby food in glass jars and tote your drinking water in a stainless steel cup. Some choices for that include the Kleen Kanteen (kleenkanteen.com) or Sigg (sigg.com).
Where can you recycle plastics made with BPA?
Instead of throwing away your old plastics made with the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, to be dumped forever in a landfill somewhere, consider recycling.
Several Quad-City area recycling sites will accept plastics with the recycling code “7” on the bottom, which often are made with BPA.
Some of those include drop-off sites in East Moline, Moline, Rock Island and Milan, Ill., which are offered by the Rock Island County Waste Management Agency. For specific addresses and more information about recycling, go online to rigov.org/citydepartments/publicworks/recyclingcenter.html or call (309) 788-8925.
The Waste Commission of Scott County does not yet accept plastics with that recycling code, but it asks people to consider taking such items to City Carton Recycling, 4002 Kimmel Drive, Davenport. Those plastics are accepted there as well as at drop-off sites it runs in the area. For more information, call (563) 322-6530.
Breastfeeding rates hit a new high
The U.S. breastfeeding rate has hit its highest mark in at least 20 years, with more than three-quarters of new moms nursing their infants, according to a recent government report — and it seems more moms are breastfeeding in the Quad-City region, too.
About 77 percent of new mothers were breastfeeding, at least briefly, when the study was done during 2005 and 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
“It looks like it is an all-time high,” based on CDC surveys since the mid-1980s, said Jeff Lancashire, a CDC spokesman.
Experts attribute the rise to education campaigns emphasizing that breast milk is better than formula when it comes to protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity. A changing culture that accommodates nursing mothers also may be a factor.
Locally, the La Leche League of the Quad-Cities has seen a steady number of breastfeeding moms attend its meetings in the past couple of years as more women learn about the benefits, said Amie Callahan of Moline, one of the group’s accredited leaders.
She said breast-fed babies enjoy many nutritional and immunological benefits, and for moms, creating the milk that sustains your baby is “very empowering.”
— Kay Luna and The Associated Press