TAG | baby bottle
I talk about BPA a lot because not a week goes by that I don’t hear about it in the news. It seems that not enough can be said about the potential negative effects of this chemical. It’s in most plastics, most food cans, baby bottles, and now…it’s at your child’s next dental appointment.
A dental resin used for dental fillings and tooth sealant has been found to contain BPA that remains in saliva for up to three hours after dental work. BPA, or bisphenol A, is a hormone disruptor that may be especially harmful to children.
More products are becoming available that are BPA free, like plastic water bottles and even BPA free canned food. So how can you avoid BPA at the dentist? Well, authors of a study in the journal Pediatrics suggest rinsing with water for 30 seconds after the dental work is completed to reduce the amount of BPA. I guess that’s a start. But it’s still a scary thought that our children our ingesting this toxin while trying to preserve their dental health.
It just goes to show that chemicals are everywhere. As a matter of fact, another BPA study found that hormone disruptors, like BPA, phthalates and PCBs, are found indoors, outdoors, in homes of the poor and homes of the affluent. Yet another recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health found evidence that current levels of BPA exposure is dangerous to our health. With more than 8 billion pounds of BPA made per year, I’d say it’s a big problem.
I call it a toxic soup that we are swimming in. That’s why it’s so important to do what we can to avoid toxins and live clean.
You know how I feel about toxins, right? Right. So when I heard that the FDA had finally updated its warning about one of the most harmful toxic chemicals out there today, I thought to myself, “It’s about time!”
The folks at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have been dragging their feet for some time now on the issue of bisphenol A (or BPA for short). BPA, which I’m sure you’ve heard of by now unless you’ve been living under a rock, is one of the most prevalent chemicals in use today, and it’s found in 90% of the population—which means yes, it’s probably inside you right now!
BPA is used in the lining of canned foods and in many hard plastic products like those reusable water bottles you see everywhere. One of the most concerning uses of BPA, however, is its presence in plastic baby bottles and ‘sippy’ cups, as well as in containers for infant formula and food.
Whereas before they said BPA was ‘safe’ for infants, the FDA has since changed its tune. Now when you go on their website and research BPA, you can see that their new statement says they are concerned about the “potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children”. So as a result the FDA is now supporting the removal of BPA from containers that are used by infants. Well, thank goodness!
But still, let’s not forget how BPA affects adults too—another study just came out that confirmed the link between high BPA levels and cardiovascular disease, showing that people who have the highest amounts of BPA in their urine also had the highest rates of heart disease. How’s that for a wake-up call? Just something to keep in mind the next time you consider buying canned foods or filling up your water bottle.

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