In this case breast is best

All my children were breastfed. First, because it was healthier and second, it was cheaper. But because my milk only lasted till they were 5 months, there was no other choice but go formula. I normally chose the middle brands, not so expensive, yet not so cheap. Except for my youngest son, who drank only soya powdered milk because he was lactose intolerant, I experienced using many formula brands. I was never loyal to any. Whatever, was cost effective and yet provided the “nutrients” a child needs, that was my brand.

At the start, I also used glass bottles, for the milk formula preparation. Even at that early stage, I knew from my gut that I could not trust plastics. I believed then, as I believe now that plastic is something that will bring more harm than good, in the long term. But because the glass bottles keep breaking and was costing me a lot, I had no choice but go plastic bottles.

Now, why am I talking about this here? My children are all adults now.
But recently, I read this old write up warning about a controversial chemical called Bisphenol A or BPA.

"BPA is a substance found in certain plastics (including certain water and baby bottles), and dental sealants that can mimic estrogen, which may cause hormone disruption”.

Note this further, BPA may affect developing fetuses because exposure to it has been associated with recurring miscarriages. It is also been found on the lining of numerous canned foods such as infant formula, chicken soup, and ravioli. “Just one to three servings of foods concentrated enough, could expose a woman or child to BPA at levels that caused serious adverse effects in animal tests”.

Tests showed that “for 1 in 10 cans of all food tested, and 1 in 3 cans of infant formula, a single serving contained enough BPA to expose a woman or infant to BPA levels more than 200 times the government's traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals. The government typically mandates a 1,000- to 3,000-fold margin of safety between human exposures and levels found to harm lab animals, but these servings contained levels of BPA less than 5 times lower than doses that harmed lab animals”.

As early as 2002, the U.S. federal government and chemical companies maintain Bisphenol A is safe, but a “recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found these promises are based on "outdated, incomplete government studies and research heavily funded by the chemical industry."

Furthermore, and “in response to a congressional inquiry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) admitted that it based its determination that current levels of BPA exposure pose no health risks on two studies sponsored by the American Plastics Council (APC), the trade group that represents BPA manufacturers. One of these studies has been found to be deeply flawed by BPA experts and the other study has not been published nor has its results been made public. FDA chose to ignore data from almost 100 independent, peer-reviewed, and published animal studies that show that this chemical is toxic at very low levels of exposure. Many of these studies were funded by the National Institutes of Health”.

Here's more reason to grit your teeth..

“FDA’s methodology for assessing BPA health risks was made public in response to a request for information from the powerful House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that questioned the basis of the Agency’s public assurances about the safety of BPA, a chemical that contaminates the bodies of 93% of all Americans. BPA leaches into food and canned infant formula from the epoxy linings of metal food cans, and leaches into drinks held in polycarbonate plastic containers, like plastic baby bottles. The Agency’s response to the Committee reveals that FDA is relying exclusively on two studies funded by the plastics industry and disregarding nearly 100 studies confirming that BPA is toxic at low doses”.

In Florida the Center for Disease Control conducted a study which “found BPA in 95 percent of the people tested for chemicals in their urine.”

BTW, how are we doing locally about this very same issue? I hate to speculate.

Popular posts from this blog

Tora Bika Cappuccino

MSG in most coffee blends?

Pininyahang Manok cooked Marikina style