Plastic Baby Bottles

Genevieve was breast fed. But, once she started taking the bottle of expressed Mummy-milk, we used, exclusively, Avent bottles. We'd bought an Avent breast pump, and that had a bottle system to use with it, and then, when she progressed to formula, we stuck with Avent. Even our microwave sterilizer was Avent.

Then, back in April of this year, I saw this :

Canada Bans BPA From Baby Bottles

An Arcadia, Calif., store displays a "BPA Free" sticker on its plastic bottles as the chemical raises safety concerns. (By David Mcnew -- Getty Images)

By Lyndsey Layton and Christopher Lee

Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 19, 2008; Page A03

Canada yesterday became the first country to ban a widely found chemical from use in baby bottles, spurring a leading Democrat in the U.S. Senate to call for legislation that would prohibit use of bisphenol A, or BPA, in a number of everyday consumer products.

"We have immediately taken action on bisphenol A because we believe it is our responsibility to ensure families, Canadians and our environment are not exposed to a potentially harmful chemical," Tony Clement, the minister of health, said in a statement.

Clement said the action was based on a review of 150 worldwide studies. "It's pretty clear that the highest risk is for newborns and young infants," he said in a telephone interview.

Wal-Mart Canada began pulling all baby products containing BPA from its shelves this week, and the chain said it plans to stop selling products containing BPA in U.S. stores by next year. Playtex said it would offer free non-BPA bottles to parents and will stop using BPA in all products by year's end. Nalgene, the maker of reusable water bottles that are popular among athletes, said yesterday it would discontinue production of bottles made with the chemical and recall existing products already in its stores.

Washingtonpost.com

One of the main companies targetted (primarily because they are one of the biggest/most popular), has been Avent. And they're not alone. The majority of plastic baby bottles in Australia contain BPA.

What does it do? Well... if you believe the studies, when the plastic is heated, BPA is released (and so pops up in whatever foods/liquids it is in contact with). When absorbed within the body, it sort of acts like an artificial estrogen - so the body reacts the same was as it does as if it were injected with small doses of female hormones. The panickers are suggesting this is the reason for little girls growing up too quickly, boys becoming more feminine, homosexuality, global warming.... well... you get the idea. Check out here for more http://www.squidoo.com/bisphenol-A

I certainly don't like the fact that we used these with Genevieve and heated them up until she started to prefer cold milk (which coincidentally, was around the time I first became aware of this issue).

Suffice it to say, we'll be getting new bottles with this little-un.