7 easy ways to cut your exposure

Source: google.fr via Tristana on Pinterest

I received another great email from Fresh this morning, and wanted to pass this information along. 

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a hormone-disrupting chemical that lurks in food can linings, plastic food and beverage containers, and a slate of other consumer products.

It has been linked with serious effects on human health, from recurrent miscarriages in women and neurological changes in children to erectile dysfunction and hormonal changes in men. Chemical industry lobbying has kept regulators from banning the use of BPA, but there is good news. A 2010 study* found that BPA levels in five families dropped dramatically (by 60% on average) after just three days of not eating canned goods and food in plastic packaging.

Here are 7 more steps you can take to reduce your exposure to BPA:

Avoid drinking out of plastic bottles. Use unlined stainless steel ones instead.
Avoid canned foods and those that are sold in plastic containers. Buy products in glass or cardboard “brick-packaging” for a BPA-free alternative.
Choose dried beans instead of canned ones, and stick with fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. If you can’t avoid canned fruits, vegetables, or beans, rinse the contents well before serving.
Store leftovers in glass containers instead of plastic ones. Never microwave food in plastic containers or while covered in plastic wrap. Use glass or ceramic containers instead.
Don’t take receipts or wash your hands after touching one. The thermal paper used by many retailers for receipts contains high concentrations of BPA.
Check recycling numbers on plastics. Types 3 and 7 are likely to contain BPA, so avoid these.
For Parents with Young Children: Unfortunately, many BPA alternatives are still being tested for safety and it is difficult to determine what products are truly better. For developing brains and bodies, cut to the chase and avoid plastics altogether.
If you feed your infant formula, choose the powdered version instead of the liquid kind.
Use glass or stainless steel containers for bottles and sippy cups.
Avoid plastic toys, especially items that will be put into mouths.
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{Take Action} to make BPA go away

I received an email from Fresh this morning (new thinking about what we are eating) and thought I would pass the information along.  There is an easy way to potentially help make a big difference in removing BPA from our packaging, our bodies, and our environment by signing a petition for Walmart to phase out BPA from their products.  Here is some information from their email, and a link to one of my previous posts about BPA:

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a toxic chemical that is making us sick. It leaches into us from plastics, paper coatings and canned foods. 90% of us carry measurable amounts of BPA in our bodies. 90% of us—that means it’s everywhere, practically unavoidable.

Canada and the E.U. have already banned the chemical for use in baby bottles. But our government hasn't banned it (yet!), so let’s change the industry, starting with Walmart. They are a retailing giant with enormous influence. If Walmart commits to eliminating BPA, the whole industry will be forced to change.

BPA disrupts our hormonal system even in very small doses, and has been linked to miscarriages, erectile dysfunction, heart disease and diabetes. For more information on the harmful effects of BPA, read here. Safer alternatives are available; there’s no excuse for continued use of BPA.

A recent report gave Walmart an F rating for their lack of efforts to phase out BPA packaging, yet Walmart has pledged to take a leadership role in environmental stewardship. Let’s tell Walmart to stop the corporate greenwashing—it’s time to get serious about removing BPA from their products. If they commit to phasing out BPA, it will effectively force the entire packaging industry to change.

Click here to sign the petition for BPA-packaging alternatives at Walmart.

For more information about the effects of toxins in everyday products, I recommend reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things

This book is about two Canadian friends/environmentalists who exposed themselves to everyday products and monitored the toxin levels in their bodies. 

Key concerns raised in Slow Death by Rubber Duck:
• Flame-retardant chemicals from electronics, pyjamas, and household dust polluting our blood.
• Toxins in our urine caused by leaching from plastics and run-of-the-mill shampoos, toothpastes and deodorant.
• Mercury in our blood from eating tuna.
• The chemicals that build up in our body when carpets, paint, and upholstery off-gas.

As a useful book for parents and consumers, it goes beyond scare tactics to provide solutions that we can all apply to our daily lives.

More reading about BPA:

The Breast Cancer Fund

Healthy Child, Healthy World

A Common and Silent Danger

{Image Credit: Amazon.com}

Most of you have probably heard of BPA, and the recent concern of the health risks it poses.  You may have already switched to BPA-free bottles and sippy cups.  But the truth is, you children and yourselves are continually being exposed to it through other means that you may not have thought of yet.  I thought I would take the opportunity to pass on some important information regarding BPA, and some ways to limit your family's exposure to the chemical.

This article by Mindful Mama, states that "After nearly forty years of use as a common industrial chemical, shocking and controversial health information concerning the chemical Bisphenol A (found in some baby bottles and food/beverage products) grabbed the attention of the media and parents around the world, unleashing a flurry of investigations into the health risks associated with this toxic chemical. In a recent study conducted by the Center for Disease Control, scientists found BPA in the urine of nearly all who were tested, which indicates widespread exposure to BPA in the U.S. population.

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released breaking news: BPA was added to its list of "chemicals of concern," and they will now begin conducting an Environmental Impact Investigation on the BPA toxin. This news came shortly after the Food and Drug Administration changed their stance on BPA by releasing a cautionary statement naming BPA as a safety risk.

It has been found that BPA mimics estrogen, a hormone that controls brain development, the reproductive system, and the development of growing fetuses. BPA has been linked to hormone disruptions, birth defects, endocrine disruption, developmental problems in children, Neuroblastoma, and an increased risk of asthma, prostate cancer, breast cancer, sexual dysfunction, early puberty, heart disease, and a gamut of neurological problems."

People ingest this chemical via the food they eat, due to the leaching of the chemical from the food packaging.  This includes baby bottles and pacifiers, plastic tableware (plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, etc.), canned food (often times cans have liners that you may or may not see that have BPA), plastic water bottles, juice bottles, milk jugs, microwave dinner containers, frozen juice containers, and many more. 

A recent survey of canned food containers by the Environmental Working Group found:

"•Of all foods tested, chicken soup, infant formula, and ravioli had BPA levels of highest concern. Just one to three servings of foods with these concentrations could expose a woman or child to BPA at levels that caused serious adverse effects in animal tests.

•For 1 in 10 cans of all food tested, and 1 in 3 cans of infant formula, a single serving contained enough BPA to expose a woman or infant to BPA levels more than 200 times the government's traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals. The government typically mandates a 1,000- to 3,000-fold margin of safety between human exposures and levels found to harm lab animals, but these servings contained levels of BPA less than 5 times lower than doses that harmed lab animals."

Our exposure to BPA up to this point has been unregulated.  It could be included in any food container.  There were no safety standards in place.  Exposure in the womb and early childhood has been found to be the most damaging,.  BPA has been found in "breast milk, serum, saliva, urine, amniotic fluid, and cord blood... and so common in products and industrial waste that it pollutes not only people but also rivers, estuaries, sediment, house dust, and even air nearly everywhere it is tested."  It accumulates in amniotic fluid (Yamada et al. 2002), providing a specific risk to the developing fetus.

At this point, only 5 states have outlawed the use of BPA in baby bottles.  Hopefully more are to follow, but it is up to you, the parent, to limit your family's exposure to these chemicals. 

There are things you can do:

BPA leaching is accelerated through exposure to heat.  Don't wash plastic products in the dishwasher or use them in the microwave. If you must use plastic products (like tupperware), replace them often, as all plastics break down after repeated uses and will leach more and more BPA into your food.  Scratched and worn plastic containers are much riskier for exposure.

According to Mindful Mama, it is also accelerated when exposed to acidic foods such as fruit (apple juice and applesauce, pineapples, etc.), tomatoes, fatty foods like fish, and any product containing alcohol. 

Cleaning containers also contain BPA and are more dangerous when they contain alcohol and other cleaning agents.  The FDA reports that liquid infant formula contains higher levels of BPA than powder formula. 

Verify that your canned foods, beer, etc. do not have lined cans.

Ensure that any plastics that your baby uses for food are BPA-free.  Many companies produce BPA-free options now, and they are readily available at your local stores, Amazon.com, etc.

BPA-Free Products

Limit your household exposure to plastics.  Buy milk in cardboard cartons rather than plastic, your applesauce in glass jars instead of plastic, as well as your baby food.

I knew BPA was harmful, but I didn't know the extent of my family's exposure until I read more about it.

Feel free to pass along the information here to your own friends and family!

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