Why it matters:

“Endocrine disruptor” and “synthetic estrogen”… that’s why.

Recap:

Unless you’ve been living under a rock– an unfairly stigmatized exercise of strength, endurance, and will-power, but sadly also a impediment to education and worldly awareness– you’ve heard all the bad news about BPA, also known as Bisphenol A.

So let’s go over it again… with a twist!

We’ll start with the basics. Bisphenol A (or BPA as the cool kids like to call it) is used in the production of plastics. Specifically polycarbonate plastics, the go-to for baby bottles and sports bottles.

No problems so far…

Except polycarbonate bottles, especially when heated, release that BPA into your beverage of choice, which will of course eventually find its way into your stomach. The human body is unarguably a feat of natural engineering. In this case, the human body is your friend, because the body sees BPA and thinks it looks just like estrogen, and reacts accordingly. Let that sink in… Your body thinks BPA is estrogen.

For infants, whose endocrine and reproductive systems are still developing this is especially troubling, and exposure to BPA has been linked to conditions ranging from sexual dysfunction to increased risk for breast and prostate cancer.

So how can you tell if you’re being exposed to BPA? In many cases the answer is simple… look at the bottom. Plastic containers have a code printed on them– a number from 1 to 7– and a classification of the plastic itself. In this case we’re on the lookout for #3s and #7s with the letters PVC and PC (respectively) underneath. That said, due to public demand, many leading manufacturers such as Camelbak and Nalgene have switched to BPA-free plastic, but because the plastics are technically polycarbonates they still carry the #7 recycling code. The upside of the recent spate of BPA press is that manufacturers are so anxious to tout their BPA-free bona fides, products often display them prominently.

“Psssht, I knew all that. I’m a BPA free brothah!”

Are you? Had a tuna sandwich lately? How about a bowl of soup?

So here’s the twist. With reusable bottle manufacturers leaving BPA in the dust, canned foods have taken their place as the worst BPA offenders. Soup cans, tuna cans, tomatoes, sauces, even pop cans are leaching BPA into your food. Oh, and take a closer look at the jug sticking out of your water cooler at work… #7 PC. If you’re using it to refill your Kleen Kanteen you’re kind of defeating the purpose. (And, if I may be so bold, skip the SIGG bottles… for good. I myself recently learned that, despite their holier-than-Nalgene posturing, SIGG bottles contained BPA until summer 2008, when they quietly reformulated the liner material. Greenwashing of the lowest sort.)

“Oh.”

Darn right, “Oh.”

Commentary:

The bad news is, unlike take-out containers and sports bottles, there’s no way to know if your pre-packaged food is being infused with synthetic estrogen. And though the FDA has finally admitted that BPA isn’t a tasty, healthy additive (or whatever the hell they used to think), and may actually be a danger, there are no plans as of yet to ban the chemical or require manufacturers to disclose its use.

The water cooler is easy. Here goes… DRINK TAP WATER. Considering our piece on the myriad chemicals in tap water, this may sound crazy, but the fact is most bottled bottled water is locally-sourced (read: its tap water) and then filtered. Okay, so get a filter (Britta, PUR, etc.). It should be noted that NO filter, will remove BPA, nor many of the 90 chemicals regulated by the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (nor the many thousands NOT regulated by the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act).

Pop’s easy too. Stop drinking it. You read our piece on High Fructose Corn Syrup, you knew it was garbage even before that, and you’ve been trying to get yourself to quit. So quit.

The canned foods and drinks are trickier. Recent tests by Consumer Reports revealed that even canned foods calling themselves “BPA-Free” are, well, full of it (so to speak). The ideal alternative to canned soups, for so many reasons, is homemade soup: Fresher, better ingredients, you control the sodium, and really they’re not hard to make. Really. Worst case scenario, try to find prepared foods and vegetables in glass jars like those by Bionaturae.

Creative Solutions:

• Ban BPA
• Ban phthalates
• Use a water filter
• Check out the NRDC’s drinking water FAQs
• And the USGS’s Water Quality page

Tagged as: acrylic, Beans, Bisphenol A, bpa, Camelbak, cancer, Canned, Clean Water Act, dental, disease, epa, FDA, food, health risks, Klean Kanteen, Nalgene, recall, Sigg, Soup, tuna, Water, water bottles