As BPA Disappears, Be Wary of Company Claims

[Guest guest]

_As BPA Disappears, Be Wary of Company Claims_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/as-bpa-disappears-be-wary-of-company.html)

 

_http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/as-bpa-disappears-be-wary-of-company.html_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/as-bpa-disappears-be-wary-of-company.html)

Posted by Jeremiah McNichols

 

Wal-Mart's Canadian division _announced Wednesday_

(http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2008/16/c6274.html) they would

" immediately stop the

sale of select baby bottles, sippy cups, pacifiers, food containers and water

bottles containing bisphenol A (BPA), as identified by its product

suppliers " after it became clear that Health Canada would be _declaring BPA a

dangerous

substance_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/canada-to-declare-bpa-dangerous.html) .

 

Yesterday Wal-Mart _announced_

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041704205\

..html) that its U.S. stores would stop

selling any bottles containing Bisphenol-A by early 2009. Today Nalgene

announced

they would actually discontinue their polycarbonate line, rather than just

adding new, BPA-free ones. (For the moment, a _press release_

(http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/) is up on the Nalgene Outdoor website.)

 

For our part, we'll be working to make sure that parents are aware that this

issue is not confined to baby bottles and adult drinkware, but also to sippy

cups, pacifiers, tableware, baby utensils, _teethers_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/zrecs-guide-to-safer-teethers.html) , and

_bath toys_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/04/zrecs-guide-to-safer-bath-toys.html) . We

don't think

that will be too hard a point to get across.

 

U.S. company reps have been telling us for months that creating a pacifier

with a non-polycarbonate shield is a nearly-intractable challenge, despite the

fact that Gerber and a few other companies have proven that this can be done

safely. We suspect several key players will move quickly to bring BPA-free

pacifiers onto the market.

 

The landscape of available products is about to shift very dramatically.

More stores are likely to fall in line with Wal-Mart's policies and the FDA

will

be forced to get involved again before long.

 

In the months to come, consumers should watch for misleading claims by

companies in two areas:

* Claims that products with some BPA-containing parts are " BPA-free "

because the main bottle body is non-polycarbonate. Because the FDA still says

the chemical is safe for human consumption there is no regulation of what

" BPA-free " means. Keep that in mind and use our _Z Report on BPA_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/02/z-report-on-bpa-in-infant-care-products.html)

to find

products that contain no BPA in any of their parts, a standard we've had since

we first started reporting on the issue.

* Claims that products are " now BPA-free " when they still contain BPA

on store shelves. New products take several months just to pass through

production and distribution channels to reach store shelves, and that's after

they've been designed, tested and approved for production. At Nuby, for

example,

it takes 6-9 months from the beginning of production until an item can be

purchased from a retailer. Nuby has made this easier by labeling all new

products as " BPA-free " when they are (their standard is the same as ours) which

led

us to advise consumers to buy their products only when so labeled. Many

companies will not label because they will be concerned about their ability to

sell all of their warehoused, polycarbonate stock during the transition. Beware

of this potential smokescreen. All of the recommendations in the _Z Report_

(http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/02/z-report-on-bpa-in-infant-care-products.html)

are based on what we believe is actually in stores now, not what companies

plan to do or are moving through production that hasn't yet reached

consumers.

Members of the media are welcome to contact us at zrecommends (at) gmail

(dot) com to arrange a phone call if you'd like a quote for publication on any

of the above or related issues.