Plastic Water Bottles...Are They Safe?

The safety of plastic water bottles has recently come under scrutiny from consumers. The concern springs from a chemical called Bis-Phenol A, or BPA. BPA is commonly used in the production of polycarbonate plastics used for water bottles, food containers, baby bottles, dental sealants and electronics. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor which means that BPA can replace the bodies naturally occurring endocrines and disrupt their normal activities. Endocrines are hormonal chemical messengers released from the endocrine organs (pancreas, thyroid, adrenal, ovaries, testes...). Endocrines travel throughout the body and bind to receptors on other tissues, fitting much like a lock and key and then evoke a specific response on the target tissue. For example, at puberty the sex organs release the appropriate hormones to stimulate the physical development needed for adulthood. In boys, the testes are told to produce sperm, muscles are directed to get larger and bones become denser. Endocrine disruptors can interfere with this hormonal communication because they are able to bind to the receptor site intended for the endocrines.
In 1976 BPA was presumed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency and was accepted for use in food containers by the Toxic Substances Control Act, a law that regulates the use of industrial chemicals. BPA has been widely used since its introduction. In 1998, Patricia Hunt, a geneticist from Case Western Reserve University, raised concerns about BPA when she discovered that environmental exposure to BPA disrupted egg maturation in mice and demonstrated a dose-related increase in abnormalities at very low levels of BPA -levels considered plausible for humans. Hunt stated that “These studies raise important questions about the potential impact on human reproduction of BPA and other man-made substances that mimic the actions of hormones." With pressure from the public, BPA then came under scrutiny by various governmental agencies, including the FDA, but has consistently been deemed safe for use in consumer products intended for food contact. However, the scientific community continues to publish data that state otherwise. Including an new article slated to appear in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology by Nora Benachour, a researcher at the Laboratory of Research in Reproductive and Gestational Health in Quebec, Canada. Benachour found “that exposure of [human] placental cells to low doses of BPA may cause detrimental effects, leading in vivo to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, prematurity and pregnancy loss.” In April of 2008 the FDA created a BPA task force to evaluate the data from current research on BPA and is expected to release its findings at the end of November, 2009.
In the mean time what should the consumer do to minimize BPA exposure? Many researchers believe the greatest risk of detrimental endocrine disruption by BPA is during times of development, including in the womb, during infancy, childhood and at puberty. Canada already imposed a BPA ban in 2008 which prompted Canada Wal-Mart to pull BPA products off their shelves and production lines. The major US baby bottle manufacturers, Avent, Playtex, and Gerber, have all agreed to stop using BPA in their products. Until the FDA issues a more powerful statement the following steps can reduce your family’s ingestion of BPA.


• Look for BPA-free baby bottles
• Rely less on prepackaged foods( including microwavable plastics & canned goods)
• Heat microwavable foods in glass containers (BPA from heated plastics can migrate into food)
• Put to go beverages in portable stainless steel containers (Target & Costco carry a few brands,online try www.kleankanteen.com)
• Avoid plastic water bottles (especially if allowed to get warm, which occurs after being left in a hot car)