Tuesday, April 22, 2008

One (Bad) Word: Plastics

Bisphenol A. There’s a word great-grandma didn’t know. Turns out bisphenol A (BPA) is a dangerous, hormone-disrupting chemical that can leak out of plastics into food or beverages.

BPA is in the plastic of baby bottles (and sippy cups), grown-up water bottles, can liners and lots of other products we all use. Government studies show 95% of us have it in our blood. If you want to learn more, there are plenty of websites offering facts and information.

The good news is alternatives are coming to market. Life Without Plastic, for example, has an assortment of non-plastic non-breakables for both children and adults.

Personally, I love my Pyrex (pictured). I use the glass tubs to store most leftovers. There are plastic caps to put on when I take the tubs someplace (like when I take lunch to work), but at least the food doesn’t come into contact with the plastic.

I should – and plan – to do better, though. My great-grandmother used to store food in glass jars with screw-tops. Lots of jams and jellies still come in glass jars – and any solution that involves eating more strawberry or grape jelly sounds great to me!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I read somewhere that heating the plastic made the BPA go into the food/ drink more easily. So, although I have had a hard time finding non-plastic sippy cups and non-plastic divided kids' plates, etc. I absolutely do not heat anything plastic in the microwave. Great-Grandmother's shopping list, are you going to post something soon about Teflon and non-stick coatings? I have a comment or two ready for that...

Great-Grandmother's Shopping List said...

Anon.: The Life Without Plastic site has non-plastic sippy cups and non-plastic divided kids' plates. I don't know much about the company besides what is on the site, but it seems better than plastic.... As far as Teflon and non-stick coatings -- I think they're awful. Some people say they're fine as long as they stay sealed, but I'd rather not take the chance. Our great-grandmothers used butter and oil and lard and those (with the exception maybe of lard) should be good enough for us.... What's your take on the non-stick coatings?

Anonymous said...

Other than the carcinogen theories? Like you, I'm not chancing it. There are enough cancer-causing products I cannot choose to stay away from. This seems like a no-brainer to me.