Safe Baby Bottles?

Have you heard all the buzz about avoiding certain plastic baby bottles? It kind of goes along with the "Chemicals in Baby Products" post from earlier this week. Some environmentalists say bisphenol A and phthalates found in many plastic baby bottles can be harmful to our babies. They say the chemicals are released when the bottles are heated.

I saw this story on USA Today that actually tells us which bottles some moms consider safer. The BornFree baby bottle is the one getting the most attention.

Here's the part of the article I found interesting:

It's(BornFree) made from a plastic five times as expensive as the one routinely used for baby bottles. It has to be shipped all the way from Israel. And its retail price — $9.50 — is about triple that of a conventional bottle.

It's also a big seller in stores catering to parents who want the safest possible environment for their babies, stores where items labeled "bisphenol A-free" and "phthalate-free" line up next to the cloth diapers and breast pumps.

Here's a list of the bottles I compiled from USA Today:

• BornFree baby bottle contains no chemicals.
• Adiri Natural Nurser contains no chemicals.


• Medela bottles have always been bisphenol A-free.


• Evenflo has marketed a glass baby bottle since the era when all baby bottles were glass, but its plastic bottles contain the chemical.


• Gerber sells several bisphenol A-free bottles, including its Clear View, Fashion Tints and Gentle Flow lines.


• Playtex Nurser System disposable liners also do not contain the chemical.
  

Small companies focusing on baby bottles without bisphenol A are doing a brisk business. BornFree went on sale in the USA last year, and the Adiri Natural Nurser made its debut this summer. Adiri can "barely keep up with demand" and ran out of its smallest bottles just after their launch in August, says Sarah Eisner, vice president of sales and marketing. "We don't want to say all other bottles are evil. You have this brand-new life, so why not start out with materials you know aren't harmful?"

The chemical industry has responded quickly to the threat to its market share. The American Chemistry Council, through a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau, forced BornFree to change its marketing this year. The company used to pitch its bottles as a safer alternative but was ordered in February not to claim its products were more child- or eco-friendly.

There is an entire website dedicated to telling us bisphenal A is harmless.

Here's a glimpse of what it says:

"For decades, polycarbonate plastic has been safely used to make baby bottles and reusable water bottles. The safety of these products has been supported by numerous science-based safety evaluations of bisphenol A that have been conducted by independent government and scientific bodies worldwide.

For example, recent evaluations by the European Food Safety Authority and NSF International both provide strong support for the safety of polycarbonate bottles. In spite of this strong scientific support, numerous myths, misinformation and scare stories about polycarbonate bottles continue to circulate. Several new studies have carefully examined these myths and provide additional strong support for the safe use of polycarbonate bottles."

I use the Medela bottles, mainly because I'm still nursing and those fit on the breast pump. Convenience is key in my household!

-NewsAnchorMom Jen