If you are worried about exposing your newborn to Bisphenol A in baby bottles (explained in a November 8th post and in this December 2nd newspaper article), but you don't like the idea of using glass either, there are some plastic alternatives. One is called BornFree. According to their website, BornFree™ is made of a new, safe, honey-colored plastic called PES (Polymer) that is free of Bisphenol-A. BornFree™'s special plastic is also more resistant to detergents. They also make plastic cups for toddlers.
Another is called Green to Grow. It is also made from the PES polymer. According to Treehugger.com, Green to Grow also spot test their line to ensure their remain free of phthalates (as found in PVC) and lead, providing further transparency by publishing those test results as PDFs on their site. Nipples for their bottles are of a medical grade silicone that like the PES in the bottle is also considered heat-resistant and non-toxic...Their corporate responsibility extends to packaging using 100% recycled paper and soy inks and donating 1% of our annual sales to environmental causes, via their membership of 1% for the Planet. Plus Green to Grow have set up a program called Bottles to Babies to encourage families to donate pre-loved baby bottles to not-for-profits and they will donate new nipples for these re-used bottles.
Some (but not all) of the products made by Playtex are Bisphenol free. One BPA-free baby bottle is the Playtex nurser for breast milk.
Happy Feeding!
Friday, January 4, 2008
Plastic Baby Bottles Without Bisphenol A
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13 comments:
So what is PES? I'm not sure that I trust a company to tell me that one plastic polymer is safer than another. They can tell me it is "new and safe"... but forty years ago the same was said about the plastics that we now understand leach toxins like Bisphenol-A. Is there research that investigates every potential byproduct of PES polymers under all conditions and can prove that none of them pose any harm to human health or reproduction, or contaminate our environment when discarded?
Sorry to sound skeptical, but I'd like to know more beyond what the companies making a buck off PES tell me. I do admit that it is good to know that where infant feeding products are concerned, there is an alternative that doesn't leach Bisphenol-A.
The EPA and the FDA do not test new chemicals for their safety. They seem to believe in "innocent until proven guilty" when it comes to chemicals.
Incidentally, today's Newsweek had an article about Bisphenol-free baby bottles. They list some additional brands that are safe.
That is an interesting article. (I think it is also worth noting that TFE's discussion of the issue beat Newsweek by several days!)
Although the Target retailer said they aren't yet tracking a major shift away from polycarbonates, I think that must be attributed solely to the lack of consumer awareness. Nobody who is fully informed on endocrine disruptors would want their kid ingesting them. With the continued efforts of sites like TFE (and the somewhat tardier investigations by larger news outlets) I think 2007's groundswell will be a tidal-wave of change in 2008...
Oh btw, I'm glad to see there are stainless-steel and glass infant-feeding products. I still don't trust the idea of PES.
Yeah, but the appeal of a plastic bottle is that a baby would be able to hold a plastic bottle on their own a lot sooner than stainless steel or glass.
But by encouraging the baby to lift that heavier glass or steel bottle, you're helping it build strength earlier! That's why I favor the Cast-Iron® Diaper.
I recommend this Toronto Globe and Mail article for further reading about PES plastic. Note that the scientist quoted, Frederick vom Saal, has been at the forefront of research about endocrine disrupters and was one of the first scientists to come out against BPA.
14 april 2008
thank you very much for these reactions regarding PES. i too was very much concerned and dismayed when i ordered born free bottles which were advertised as PA (nylon) and made in Israel and ISO 9000 certified, and received instead bottles which were made of PES. I was not only concerned about the change in material, but more so on the fact that i was not informed of such a change and in fact said company still advertises its products as pa and so do all retailers who sell the product. I sent an e mail to zrecommends and soft landing sites, which have become the forefront of parents source of information about rearing healthy children. they were the ones who did the reasearch on BPA free products and so i felt they should follow up on this.
the following are my references
One manufacturer using PES for baby bottles is Florida-based Born Free Inc. President Ron Vigdor says the company has tested its bottles in laboratories in Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel, and found no detectable leaching from the plastic in analyses with a sensitivity in the parts-per-trillion range. He said the company chose the material, which he says costs several times more than polycarbonate, because it is able to withstand high-temperature dishwashing and microwaving without degrading.. (Are alternatives any safer than plastic by Martin Mittelstaedt Globe and Mail, tuesday, 11 March 2008. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080311.wplastic11/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
i would like to know if they have foregone the PA plastic as advertised in their website for the PES. and it seems i am not the only parent who was this observant. one amazon buyer also notices this discrepancy and returned the bottles
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Avoid this company!, 5 Jan 2008
By STU - See all my reviews
I have been waiting to recieve replacement glass bottles from this company (babybornfree) since 0ctober 12th 2007 - just under 3 months! I originally bought plastic bottles from them which were described on their website as being made of PA (nylon)- a safe alternative to other baby bottles that contain the toxic "Bisphenol A" (hormone disruptor). The actual bottles sent were made of "PES" (polyether sulphone). I was concerned about the sulphur content and so returned the bottles in exchange for glass ones. I have phoned them 5 times since October; the first time they said they were out of stock but now had some more in so they would look into it & phone me back. No phone call. I phoned them back a few days later & was told the bottles had been sent, but because of the postal strike, they may be late so wait a few days, if they haven't arrived they will send some more with a tracking number.
After a few days I phoned back & asked them to resend with a tracking number & to phone me once the tracking number is known. They agreed, but after a week I still hadn't received the package or a phone call. When I phoned they said they had sent the bottle 2 days earlier. When I asked for the tracking number they said they didn't know it but would find out & ring me back. Guess what? no phone call & no package. I am now trying to get my money back in order to use on a more deserving company. These people are playing on peoples fears of toxins in plastics, making money out of them & not delivering. Avoid this company & reward good companies with your purchases! http://www.amazon.co.uk/BornFree-Vented-Glass-Bottle-260ml/dp/B000UC56O8
Not only did i receive the PES bottles like this customer, i also had the same difficulty with their customer service. In their site, they have the contact us icon which opens to where you can write to them, every time i would click send, it would erase all my comments as well as all of my information and i would have to start again. i was very much annoyed.
I am hoping you can resolve this issue which i first addresed to Zrecommends but which i have not received a reply from. i believe companies that present themselves to be safer and more responsible alternatives should be just that. i am hoping that Born free will finally state publicly and fornally what materials they use and change their site and advertising to reflect that. i am also hoping that they will have responsible customer relations and not take advantage of the situation in which the BPA scare has made people just thankful for any alternative and not investigate and be diligent about their options. And finally, i bought my bottles through Amazon so i have a record of my purchase. i would like to get the actual bottles made of PA if they really do exist at all.
I will also be referencing this site for the reactions on pes. thank you
Gents and Ladies;
My kid uses Born Glass bottles, as all sippy and nipple heads seem to fit the large bottle.
Dont want any plastics leaching into my kid.
Now what do I do with my flame retardants on the stinky couch?
Regards,
John
The site Z Recommends is keeping an updated listing of the BPA status of baby feeding products here.
On October 16th, 2008, Canada banned BPA from all baby bottles. Read more.
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