If you’re still using polycarbonate baby bottles, sippy cups and juice bottles despite their propensity to leach the dangerous compound bisphenol A, as my colleague Anne Underwood explains in the Feb. 4 issue, at least don’t fill them with really hot water. Bisphenol A is what’s called an environmental estrogen. That means it acts like a hormone, which may not be what you want for your fetus, baby or toddler. Hundreds of studies on lab animals find that exposure to even minute amounts of bisphenol A can trigger cancer of the breast or prostate years later, reproductive abnormalities and behavioral changes. There are no conclusive data on people, though there’s no doubt we’ve (almost) all become walking chemical cabinets: federal scientists find that 92 percent of us ages 6 and up harbor measurable amounts of bisphenol A. Anyone who wants to wait around for definitive human data, be my guest. For everyone else, some tips:
There are more and more non-polycarbonate (and therefore bisphenol A-free) baby bottles on the market. That’s the only kind Whole Foods sells, for instance. But if you can’t or won’t buy those, at least wash yours gently in only lukewarm water. No child needs a dose of hormone with her apple juice. |