BPA & Plastic: How to Get a Little Peace of Mind

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Several years ago, news about Bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics was just hitting the news. Around that time, I was pregnant with my second child, and I made a commitment to purge dangerous plastics from my house.

Now, BPA has been banned from use in Canada and the European Union. In the United States, BPA is banned from use in baby bottles and it is making headlines again as a potential danger to the unborn fetuses of pregnant women. If you’re as worried about its effect on your health as I was, check out my easy tips for banishing BPA from your home.

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The Dangers of BPA

Exposure to BPA increases your risk of developing the following diseases:

• Miscarriage: A 2012 study by the School of Molecular Biosciences and Center for Reproductive Biology at Washington State University discovered that female primates exposed to BPA while pregnant experienced irregular egg growth that led to miscarriage.

• Breast Cancer: A 2011 study by the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and senior scientist in the University of Alabama Comprehensive Cancer Center, linked consistent low-level exposure to BPA with the body’s production of the protein HER2/erbB2 which is strongly linked with the development of breast cancer.

• Prostate Cancer: A 2006 University of Chicago study found that BPA increased estrogen levels in male rats which caused prostate cancer.

• Reproductive Dysfunction: This Thursday, the Environmental Health Perspectives journal published a study that showed a link between BPA exposure in pregnant women and thyroid dysfunction that may negatively affect the growth of the unborn fetus.

• Childhood Obesity: This is an American epidemic and one that may be linked to BPA according to a 2012 York University School of Medicine study which found that "urinary BPA concentration was significantly associated with obesity in this cross-sectional study of children and adolescents."

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Where to Find It

BPA is most commonly found in rigid plastics: the kind that holds its own shape, not flimsy plastic bags. You can also find it lining canned food, on drink bottles and receipt paper. Unless these items are specifically labeled BPA Free, they may be harmful to your health. 

Go through a mental inventory of the products in your house and you’re likely to find a high number of these products. Removing them all at once is too big a chore. But if you start with small steps, you can clear your home of BPA without feeling overwhelmed.

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First Things First: Identify the Biggest Culprit

In my house, the biggest source of BPA was our plastic storage containers. I’m busy for most of the week, so I do most of my family’s cooking on the weekends. And then the leftovers would go into plastic storage containers and then into the fridge. We’d heat it, freeze it and eat out of it: all of the practices that help tiny amounts of BPA leech into you system every day.

So my first step was to banish plastic storage containers. Now I use glass. They’re easier to find than you think, cheap because they last until you break them and they keep frostbite and refrigerator smells out of my food no matter how long it sits. And they can go right from the refrigerator to the oven.

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Move On to the Rest of the House

When It comes to systemic change, I’m a big believer in baby steps. Taking on too much at once is a great way to burn out. Start with your most used items, work out the kinks in the process and then move on. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was healthier living.

Here are some great places to replace plastic:

• Ice Cube Trays: You can find great metal versions here.
• Plastic Cups: Sure they’re unbreakable but they’re not safe.
• Lunch Boxes: Once you see these cute glass containers, you’ll never go back to plastic.
• Canned Goods: Most people don’t know that the lining of many canned goods is coated in BPA. I recommend switching to frozen. The food is just as easy to prepare and the sodium levels are much lower.
• Soda: Switch from bottles to cans. Or consider a soda maker. It's so much fun to play with flavors that you may not miss the bottles. Or, look for the designer sodas sold in glass bottles in up-market stores. If you’re feeling brave, consider cutting soda out of your diet altogether.
• Water Bottles: This is an easy fix. Get a water filter, a metal water container and prepare to save hundreds of dollars a year on water bottles (most of which use tap water anyway).

Dr. Sharon

I hope you find this helpful. Change is hard. But if you work in increments and provide yourself with viable substitutions, change is manageable. A support group also helps. Let us know how you’re doing in the comments section. We’ll talk about progress, questions and concerns to help each other out!