Canada Calls Bisphenol A "Dangerous"
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04.15.08
Canada's regulatory body, Health Canada, is the first in the world to declare Bisphenol A dangerous, the first step toward a ban. The chemical is used to make polycarbonate bottles, but also can be found in the linings of most tin cans.
Martin Mittelstaedt of the Globe and Mail writes "Independent researchers in dozens of studies have linked trace BPA exposures in animal and test-tube experiments to conditions involving hormone imbalances, including breast and prostate cancer, early puberty and changes in brain structure, particularly for exposures during key points of fetal or early neonatal development.
Until now, regulators in other countries have accepted the industry's assertion that BPA is harmless at the tiny, parts-per-billion type exposures from canned food and plastic beverage containers. A part per billion is roughly equal to one blade of grass on a football field, although natural hormones such as estrogen are active at far lower concentrations, around a part per trillion." ::Globe and Mail
UPDATE: see more information on beating BPA here.
Lots of TreeHugger on this subject: Hot Water + Polycarbonate Bottles = More Gender-Benders, Time to Pack In the Polycarbonates, MEC Nixes Nalgenes, Camelbak Introduces Genderbender Free Bottles and Gender Bender Chemicals Also Make You Fat
It's great to see the Canadian regulatory body doing what it's paid to - protect consumers.
Would that their equivalent bodies in UK and USA took the same view.
That's why I got a aluminum/stainless steel reuseable water bottle instead of a nalgene. Plasticizers freak the hell out of me!
So are the Nalgene bottles bad for me or not?
I never knew it was in the lining of tin cans! Something else I'll need to phase out.
So what do you we drink out of?? This is confusing..
Help us Treehugger- should i just walk around and hike with a glass bottle??
thanks,
SusyQ
Now that I have ruined my 5 year old and 3 year old girls by giving them cancer by heating their baby bottles and sippy cups - is there any way to check about the amount of damage this may have caused?
Now that I have ruined my 5 year old and 3 year old girls by giving them cancer by heating their baby bottles and sippy cups - is there any way to check about the amount of damage this may have caused?
@scott.
yes they are. they are better than standard water bottles, but still dangerous.
This explains a lot. A synthetic estrogen, and now I no longer wonder why my son came out of the closet. I wonder what other ailments this will cause. Perhaps it explains the massive incidents of moobs in men.
I don't see a ban from health canada, can you explain to me where I can find that link?
Does this mean I cannot recycle all of my tin cans? Hadn't thought to check the lining until now.
Would like to share the answer with my site's readers.