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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Lamorinda Moms Club

Home arrow Resources arrow Product Safety arrow Canada leads way with ban on baby bottles containing bisphenol A
Canada leads way with ban on baby bottles containing bisphenol A Print Email
This is not yet a recall in the United States but you want might to be aware of it.

The government announced Friday that Canada will be the first country to ban plastic baby bottles with bisphenol A after concluding the chemical is toxic.

Health Minister Tony Clement unveiled the ``precautionary and prudent'' move while trying to calm fears with a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and tin cans of food and infant formula. Most Canadians ``need not be concerned'' about the health effects of bisphenol A, but Clement said ``this is not the case for newborns and infants.''

``We have concluded that early development is sensitive to the effects of bisphenol A,'' Clement, joined by Environment Minister John Baird, told an audience that included new mothers and their babies.

``Although our science tells us that exposure levels to newborns and infants are below the levels that cause effects, we believe that the current safety margin needs to be higher. We have concluded that it is better to be safe than sorry.''

The main source of exposure for babies is through migration of bisphenol A from boiling water poured into polycarbonate baby bottles and from can linings into liquid infant formula.

Research on laboratory animals shows that bisphenol A is an estrogenic hormone disrupter that causes reproductive damage and may lead to prostate and breast cancer in adulthood.

Clement said canned infant formula remains a concern, but government will work with industry to establish codes of practice to reduce the amount of bisphenol A in the linings of cans and set migration targets for the toxin.

More at www.canada.com
And for a list of recommended bottles, go to:  zrecs.blogspot.com