Is BPA Free A Scam?
It seems that everything plastic these days has a BPA free sign on it, giving consumers the message that BPA free is a good thing. What is BPA anyways? Is it dangerous? Is plastic that is BPA free actually safe? What’s the alternative? These are a few questions I will answer in this post so keep on reading!
What is BPA? BPA stands for Bisphenol A which is an industrial chemical used to make 2 common synthetics. One is poly carbonate, which is a shatter proof plastic used to make many products including drink and food containers as well as dental fillings, eye glass lenses, DVDs, CDs, electronics and sports equipment. BPA is also used to make is Epoxy Resins, which are used in industrial adhesives and coatings which line most of the 131 billion food and beverage cans made in the U.S. annually. (Environmental Working Group)
Is BPA Dangerous? Bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor meaning that it interferes with production, secretion, transport, action, function and/or elimination of natural hormones. BPA imitates our body’s own hormones in a way that has been documented to be very detrimental for our health. Endocrine disruptors, falsely tell the body’s cells that the hormone estrogen is around, causing all sorts of troubling developmental and reproductive consequences.
BPA is known to be particularly dangerous for pregnant women, infants and children. Some effects of BPA have been linked to reproductive disorders, male impotence, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, brain function memory and learning, breast cancer and asthma to name a few.
In the early 1930s BPA was used as an artificial estrogen to fatten poultry and cattle, and as a form of estrogen replacement therapy for women of the times. It was only in the 1940s that Bayer and General Electric used BPA to harden poly carbonate plastics and make epoxy resin. Canada has declared BPA a toxic substance but so far no one else has followed suit.
A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified possible hazards to fetuses, infants, and young children. A 2011 study that investigated the number of chemicals pregnant women are exposed to in the U.S. found BPA in 96% of women.
The amount of BPA that is leeched into foods that are in BPA lined containers increases with heat, time, harsh washing and those containing acidic liquids…think tomatoes and soda. In 2011 researchers looked at 455 common plastic products and found that 70% tested positive for estrogenic activity. After the products had been washed or microwaved the amount rose to 95%. Why do containers often say don’t use in microwave or to hand wash them? This is why, because more BPA will leach out of the plastic and into your food.
Is BPA-free safe? I had heard that BPA free plastics are also unsafe. So, I dug a little deeper. They have to substitute BPA with something right? Products that are BPA free are simply made with bisphenol-S or BPS. BPS is less known but it shares a similar structure and versatility to BPA and has similar hormone mimicking characteristics of BPA. BPA and BPS are not the only ingredients in plastic, there are a laundry list of chemicals that make up these containers. There is bisphenol AF and AB, bisphenol B and BP, bisphenol C, E, F, G, M, S and others!
What’s the alternative? Honestly you can’t avoid chemicals, they’re in our air, water and food. We are surrounded by chemicals and pollution on a daily basis, unfortunately, but here are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of nasty chemicals from plastics in your life.
- Choose glass. This water bottle and this water bottle, both have great reviews on amazon and are on my wish list.
- Ditch the plastic food containers. I bought these containers from amazon to store leftovers in and love them. Super sturdy, they nest and store well, and the lids fit really tight.
- If you are going to reheat things in the microwave don’t do it in plastic. Switch the food to a ceramic or glass container to heat up, or better yet do it on the stove.
- Can your own food. This of course takes a lot of work but you can preserve anything in a mason jar! This time of year is especially good because there is an abundance of produce.
This post was shared on the following real food/natural living blogs, go check them out for more great recipes and information!
Food Renegade, Natural Family Today, Thank Your Body, Frugally Sustainable
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Great article ~ I ditched the plastic and now use a small glass bottle for my water. It’s great and it still fits in the inside car pocket. No probs. 🙂
What kind of water bottle do you use?
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Fantastic. I’ve been getting more and more informed about this subject. Basically, I came to the same conclusion. Steer away from plastics at as much as possible. And if I have to use them, I never do with anything heated, weather it be liquid or food. There’s also a company called Contigo that sells a glass water bottle wrapped in some sort of rubber material to prevent it from breaking that has a lid seal which is bpa, bps and phthalate free. A great buy.