Retailers to phase out certain baby bottles

By SHERRI ACKERMAN
Media General News Service
Published: June 16, 2008

Word starting spreading like wildfire last month on mommy blogs, in play groups and at day cares.

Babies R Us was exchanging used plastic baby bottles and other items containing bisphenol A, a controversial chemical deemed dangerous by some health advocates, for safer products. That followed news this year that Wal-Mart and other retailers will phase out plastic baby products made with BPA from store shelves.

For mothers like Madelyn Oquendo of Tampa, Fla., whose daughter is 36 weeks pregnant, the moves confirmed the worst suspicions about BPA, which is used to make hard, clear polycarbonate plastics found in many bottles and is linked to cancer, reproductive disorders and diabetes in laboratory animals.

“Now I’m concerned,” Oquendo said while shopping for baby items recently at Wal-Mart. “I feel like there’s something to this.”

The Food and Drug Administration has said that products made with BPA are safe and that exposure is well below the amount that may cause serious health concerns. But new scientific research recently put BPA back in an unfavorable light and spurred the FDA to create a task force to re-evaluate previous findings.

Some health advocates warn that BPA, which can be absorbed through food and drink containers, causes testicular and breast cancers, early puberty, hyperactivity and autism. Expectant mothers and infants are of special concern.

The problem, though, is that testing mostly has been limited to lab animals.

The National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health, released a draft report in April that concluded there may be some health concerns associated with products containing BPA, which is also evident in the lining of canned foods and drinks.

The possibility that BPA may alter human development could not be dismissed, researchers said.

That same month, Canada became the first country to ban the sale of baby bottles and other products with BPA. The U.S. Senate, California and New Jersey are considering similar bans.

Babies R Us, a division of Toys R Us, went one step further last month with its offer to exchange used items with BPA for a credit toward the purchase of BPA-free products.

On a recent day, Christine Rogers of Westchase, Fla., noticed the tiny red signs on the shelves touting BPA-free bottles at Babies R Us. It got her thinking: Maybe there was something to these warnings she heard about BPA.

“I’ll definitely look into it,” said the 35-year-old chiropractor, who was shopping for a friend’s baby shower with 2-year-old son Ethan. On the gift registry: a BPA-free Dr. Brown’s bottle.

For Ethan, Rogers used Playtex bottles with disposable drop-ins considered safer than others because of the individual lining. But some bottle parts contain BPA, and Playtex is now giving away BPA-free bottles to parents. The company has said it will stop using BPA in any of its products by year’s end.

Rogers and other mothers have been turning to blogs and Web sites to try to decipher the latest findings and protect their children and themselves.

“Nursing is best,” said Susan Dunn, a 40-year-old mother who participates in a playgroup with Rogers and about eight other mothers.

But for some women, it’s not possible. And for many parents, especially those who work, bottles are a necessity. Glass ones are seeing a resurgence in popularity, retailers say, but aren’t always the most practical.

The popular new plastic BPA-free Born Free brand has experienced a recent increase in sales. The bottles cost about twice as much as other BPA-free brands, though. Manufacturers of less expensive lines including Avent and Dr. Brown’s also have come out with BPA-free products.

Ami Gohil, a 34-year-old day care worker whose young daughters used to attend the same playgroup, said she used original Dr. Brown’s bottles and followed instructions to sanitize them in the dishwasher.

Heating plastics that include BPA could cause the chemical to leach into contents, advocates warn. Now Gohil worries what that might mean for her girls, ages 2 and 5.

“I’m not freaking out,” she said. “What can you do now after the fact?”

Dunn recently surveyed the contents of her refrigerator and warily informed her husband, “About 80 percent of our refrigerator is plastic!”

“What can you do?” she said. “You take every precaution you can.”

That’s exactly what pediatrician Gilbert Pitisci of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital advises parents to do.

“I tend to be very pragmatic,” he said. “If it’s easy to avoid, I’d avoid it.”

SHERRI ACKERMAN is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune