League of Maternal Justice

Call to Action: BPA Exposure in Infants and Children

We're asking you to get involved with spreading the word about BPA exposure in bottles and sippy cups. Many parents are not aware of these studies and might decide to make a change in what they are using if they knew about the *dangers of BPA, particularly to infants and children.

1) Spread the word: Write a post -- or just include a link to Cristina's post regarding the conference call on your blog. Post something on your message boards. Send an email to your address book. Let people know!

2) Buy safe products: Safemama has several cheatsheets that provide safe alternatives for bottles, sippy cups, binkies, and teethers. You can also find several options at Cool Mom Picks and Green Mom Finds. Look for products that are PVC, Pthalate, and BPA free.

3) Sign a petition: We've found a petition that calls for immediate moratorium on the use of BPA in baby bottles. Click here for a petition for Canadians.

4) Talk to your local baby stores: Ask them to carry BPA-free products.

*It's important to note that BPA is used in all canned goods as well.

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We'll be announcing the winners of NoMeatPo Week in the next few days. And make sure to start working your magic with those plastic bags!

More Evidence Emerges About the Dangers of BPA Exposure to Humans. Pregnant Mothers, Infants, and Children at Highest Risk.

Today, I participated in a media teleconference announcing the results of a new U.S. and Canadian study, "Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles". The results of this study have led dozens of U.S. and Canadian environmental health organizations to call for an immediate moratorium on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and other food and beverage containers.

Researchers have found that the toxic chemical BPA leaches from popular plastic baby bottles when heated, including Avent, Evenflo, Dr. Brown’s and Disney/First Years. Importantly, ninety-five percent of all baby bottles on the market are made with BPA.

BPA, a synthetic sex hormone that mimics estrogen, is used to make hard polycarbonate plastic. Studies conducted on laboratory animals and cell cultures have linked low doses of BPA to obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer and other illnesses. BPA exposure is widespread and has been found in 95% of Americans tested.

BPA is also found in some toddler sippy cups, polycarbonate water bottles such as some Nalgene bottles, dental sealants, and the linings of many food and beverage cans, including all infant formulas.

A couple of additional points I would like to share from the call are:

--BPA is also commonly found in tap water sources. In fact, the researchers of this study had a hard time finding a non-contaminated water source for the study.

--A few of the questions from reporters from the media tended to focus on whether this study was really that significant since the dangers of BPA have only been confirmed in animals. The researcher made it clear that levels of BPA they found leaching from bottles was surprisingly high and within the range to which animals respond with adverse effects. And furthermore, noting the adverse affects of BPA in animals IS a significant sign of BPA's probable risk to humans.

--The most dangerous period for BPA exposure is before birth (in the womb) and during infancy and early childhood when human body systems are still being developed and can be adversely affected by hormone disrupters. Both males AND females can be adversely affected by BPA exposure. In animal studies, some males that were exposed had abnormalities of reproduction when they grew up. Females saw changes in breast tissue that can lead to breast cancer later in life. These are only two examples of the types of health problems BPA can cause. Here is some more information, which I took directly from the press release:

Parents can take action immediately to protect their children’s health by choosing safer products, including plastic baby bottles made without BPA or glass baby bottles. (See www.babystoxicbottle.org for more tips.)

Visitors to the “Baby’s Toxic Bottle” website can sign a petition to baby bottle manufacturers, urging them to phase out BPA in baby bottles at www.babystoxicbottle.org.

The full study, “Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles,” is available to download for free on the website www.babystoxicbottle.org. The Canadian version of the study is available at www.toxicnation.ca.

This study was commissioned by Environmental Defence of Canada in cooperation with The Work Group for Safe Markets in the U.S., and researched by the laboratory of Frederick vom Saal, PhD., at the University of Missouri. Study results were released today in the U.S. by a broad coalition of public health and environmental non-governmental organizations including: Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine, Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, Boston Common Asset Management, Breast Cancer Fund, Center for Health, Environment & Justice, Clean New York, Clean Water Action, Environment America, Environmental Health Fund, Healthy Legacy, Learning Disabilities Association of America, MOMS (Making Our Milk Safe), Oregon Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and US PIRG.

Note that, due to server problems, the babystoxicbottles.org site will be down for part of the day.

We'll be posting a follow-up tomorrow with information on what you can do to protect your children and yourselves, and how you can take action to help spread the word.

(Cross-posted with permission courtesy of Mommy Off the Record)

Be The Magi

It seems that every grocery store and coffee shop in my neighborhood is doing a toy drive this season. Big bins, everywhere, with festive signs saying drop unwrapped toys and gifts for kids here. Which got us thinking: how, exactly, does a family go about giving in a manner that takes into consideration all the recent scares around pretty much every toy on the shelves? You don't want to pass on to less fortunate families toys for which a recall is going to be issued, say, next month, do you? It's no longer as simple as just going to the toy store and buying one or two things to donate to the local drive. And if you just cut a check - well, that doesn't really involve the kids, does it?

So we want to know - how are you going to go about charitable giving this season, beyond just writing a check or two? And how are you going to get your kids involved? Come up with a great idea for spreading cheer the charitable way and write a post about it (drop a link in to LMJ so that we can find you, and/or leave us a comment with the url), and we'll pull them all together and link them all up in a big share-the-great-ideas-share-the-joy post. Maybe we'll even whip up a brand new, 2007 Gifts Of The Magi button, for sparkles.

Our ideas:

* Take your kids to some local shops, or a local crafts fair, and let them pick out something locally made to donate to a toy drive (or shelter or other worthy organization).

* Books don't contain lead! Have your kids pick their favorite titles from a local bookstore, and donate those.

* Time doesn't contain lead, either - consider putting in some family volunteer time at the local toy drive or food bank or whatever cause is most important to you.

* And please go sign the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2007 (S. 2045) to petition congress on increasing imported product safety!

What are your ideas? Share them, put them into action, write about them - and spread the word. Let's spread some joy!