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
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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.
This is ridiculous and inflammatory. People, there is a LOT more information out there. Please do your research before you freak out about one more product that has the smallest chance of transferring less than 7 parts per BILLION of BPA into a liter of water under extreme circumstances. ie, heated above 80 degrees continually for up to 24 hours. Who of us does this with Nalgene bottles? (unless it's left in the car, but most normal people get rid of hot, old water and rinse out the bottle thereby ridding the bottle of any BPA) As it stands the limit for BPA in liquids per liter for infants is 250 parts per billon. Even if that number turns out to be extremely high, it still isn't enough to make your son gay, (as commenter Chris infers) or to cause health issues. Please do your homework before publishing this tripe on the web, for the sake of the gullible!
In fact, this issue is VERY confusing... i've been keeping (loose) tabs on it for some time. A report released through the American Chemistry Council refutes what the above article states. So far I can find no specific report from Health Canada where they DECLARE BPA as 'dangerous'. And the writer, though based in Toronto, makes no reference to a gov't. report-- he merely states it.
Here's a good reference with scientific assessment including a Hearing on “Plastic Additives in Consumer Products” report released on May 14, 2008.
http://www.americanchemistry.com/plastics/
There are several other articles to check out here, and based on the science, BPA has extremely low absorption rates, of the micrograms that are absorbed, they are metabolized and excreted.
While I have taken to using some common sense caution based on certain recommendations regarding heat, length of storage, age of containers, etc. I still use and plan to use Nalgene bottles. I personally believe that this is over excitement and typical overblown media reaction. The type of media stir that has driven major retailers such as MEC in Canada and WalMart to pull BPA products. Which serves to feed the frenzy.
It's a tough issue with more extensive research on the horizon. While I really wouldn't use #7 bottles for my kids, 50 years of use thus far and no significant hormonal or carcinogenic results? I'm okay with personal use.
To Phil and Ace,
Really?!?! come on guys... Did you even read the article AND the accompanying links...? You two are ignoring the facts not showing us new and truthful ones...
And relying on the Chemistry Council to give you the truth about plastics???!!! Really Phil... Do you expect me to believe that you believe that? You are a stranger to me, and I wouldn't accuse a stranger of being narrowminded or dimwitted...
You guys haven't read the links in the article or you cannot understand what you are reading or you two are supporting the plastics industry for personal reasons...
Michael Polidori