The BPA controversy is something that we at DadLabs have been looking at for years. In this episode, we talk with Jeremiah McNichols of Z Recommends to find out if parents should still be worried. What legislation or regulations exist regarding BPA? What are the health concerns? What are the sources of BPA exposure in pregnant women and babies and how can the risks be minimized? Do you buy BPA free products? Let us know your thoughts on this topic at DadLabs.com. DadLabs Ep. 764 is brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Daddy Clay: Today in The Lab, we're taking a look back at the BPA controversy. Is it something parents should still be concerned about? Come right back and find out. Today's episode on BPA is brought to you by BabyBjorn. Their whole line of feeding products is of course BPA free. Brilliant design, BPA free, BabyBjorn. So in February of 2008, DadLabs produced our first video on the subject of BPA. At the time, we were completely freaked out that this unknown additive was somehow in the world and causing problems for our own kids. At the time we had some recommendations about ways to minimize exposure and things you could do. We haven't heard a whole lot on this topic in the last couple of years. So I decided to get in touch with Jeremiah McNichols from Z Recommends or Zrecs.com, who's been covering this topic for a while. I really trust his site and his judgement so I thought he'd be the perfect person to talk to on this subject. Jeremiah, thanks a lot for joining us today.
Jeremiah McNichols: Thanks for having me on.
Daddy Clay: So, it's been a couple of years since the initial sort of wave of information about BPA came out. Has this problem been solved? We look and see a lot of BPA free products. Is this something that parents don't need to worry about anymore?
Jeremiah: No, it's definitely something that parents should still be aware of and alert for several reasons. One is that there have been attempts at the national level to regulate BPA or to restrict the use of BPA in certain products and year after year, it's failed. The American Academy of Pediatrics has now made a statement, just within the last week, saying that they believe that the overarching legislation that would help regulate things like BPA needs to be reformed. And that's the Toxic Substances Control Act, which by the way was actually drafted in July in 1976 and hasn't been updated since then.
Daddy Clay: So even though we see all these products that are advertised as being BPA free, this is all being done on a volunteer basis just because this chemical has a bad reputation not because companies are compelled to keep this product out of the marketplace?
Jeremiah: Well one thing that has spurned companies to move on this is regulations at the state level. There are eight states that have banned BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups in their states.
Daddy Clay: Are people still getting exposure to BPA?
Jeremiah: Even the states that have regulations don't have any regulations on teething toys, on pacifiers, on bath toys. Those all three are areas that we believe should be regulated.
Daddy Clay: What are the health concerns surrounding BPA and why is it so important that we keep it away particularly from pregnant moms and from infants?
Jeremiah: Well, it's known to be an endocrine disruptor, which means that it mimics the behavior of hormones that are present in your body. So it basically tricks your body into thinking that it's a hormone and hormones are compounds that cause your body to have a particular response. So growth, physical development. The key to all these studies, there have been studies all across the board linking BPA to all kinds of crazy things. With the breadth of things that scientists are exploring with potential effects of an endocrine disruptor, it's hard to really nail down exactly what those things might be. It's just that there's enough concern in enough different areas and enough for the major players that are behind this. The FDA, a lot of industry organizations now are coming to realize that there's enough going on here that it really is a chemical that should just be retired?
Daddy Clay: What are sources of potential exposure that could be avoided? What are some ways to minimize exposure, particularly for pregnant women and for babies?
Jeremiah: For pregnant women, knowing about other sources of BPA is helpful. One that's been in the news recently but has been known about for several years is credit card receipts. Credit card receipts are made with a thermal paper, that thermal property is partially based on the use of BPA. Probably one of the greatest exposures that pregnant women have to BPA is through canned food. Another thing for pregnant women and for just entire families to consider is although you may see claims that plastic is microwavable or that certain types of plastic are microwavable, we would recommend against that. That the way that BPA leeches out of products is from exposure largely from exposure to heat as well as from scratching.
Daddy Clay: Are you optimistic? Do you feel that we're making progress on this topic or are you still really concerned about the presence of BPA in our world?
Jeremiah: I think as far as BPA specifically a lot of progress has been made. I think that more generally speaking, the issue with BPA speaks to a broader problem which is that the Toxic Substances Control Act is updated and doesn't do what needs to do what it needs to protect us from a huge variety of chemicals that we don't know enough about.
Daddy Clay: So I've got a couple of recommendations. One is to keep BPA out of your life to the greatest extent possible. Keeping it away from your expecting partner or spouse. And keeping it away from your kids. My other recommendations is you need to check out Z Recommends at Zrecs.com. This is a fantastic source of information and product reviews. It's untainted by any commercial influence. These guys have tremendous integrity. They're super smart as you can tell. It's a great blog to read on a regular basis. You need to bookmark it. Put it in your feed reader. Read ZRecs at least every week. Jeremiah, thanks so much for joining us today.
Jeremiah: Thank you.
Daddy Clay: That's all for us this week here in The Lab.