California leads the way

Last week Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that makes California the first state in the country to ban the use of phthalates from children’s products. This is really great news: California has enough market share to make manufacturers stand up and take notice, and on the heals of their decision, other states are also considering such bans. Lawmakers in Texas, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Maine, Connecticut and New York are expected to introduce similar legislation in the coming months, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, has indicated she will introduce similar legislation in Congress.

Phthalates are a class of chemicals used in plastics, including children's toys and baby bottles, and they are endocrine disruptors. Low doses have been tied to numerous health problems, from baldness to obesity, and birth defects to infertility. Because phtalates are ubiquitous (they are in cosmetics, air fresheners, home furnishings, medical devices, food containers, and many other common products) they have been found in most people tested for body burden (or the accumulation of chemicals in our bodies). To learn more about phthalates, visit the Coming Clean website.

Plastic Problems Part 2

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is now used to line food cans — even when the food inside is certified organic. In fact, a series of independent tests performed by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) showed that "over half of 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods" contained BPA, including in acidic products, such as tomatoes, and fatty foods, such as infant formula. Acidic foods or high fat foods tend to leach out more of these chemicals than other foods stored in the same type of container. BPA is not only implicated in infertility and birth defects, but also in breast and prostrate cancer.

A couple of EWG's findings:

Of all foods tested, chicken soup, infant formula, and ravioli had BPA levels of highest concern. Just one to three servings of foods with these concentrations could expose a woman or child to BPA at levels that caused serious adverse effects in animal tests.

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.

And, more on phthalates: These chemicals are widely found in personal care products, ranging from cleansers and soaps to cosmetics and perfumes. In this use, they are intended to keep products going on smooth. But, some people suspect that phthalates in these products are a major source of phthalate exposure for women, and in August, 2005, the journal Environmental Health Perspectives published research showing that phthalate exposures in pregnant women correlated to a decrease in "anogenital distance" their in baby boys. The amount of phthalates these women showed was equal to the amount regularly found in about 25% of our population! Anogenital distance is the space between the anus and the genetalia, and though these baby boys appeared fairly normal, decreases in anogenital distance are associated with a number of male sexual development problems later in life.

What can you do? Well, when it comes to cans, if you open one and see that white plastic coating lining it, immediately call the manufacturer's 800-number customer service line and tell them you don't want to buy products that come in cans lined with bisphenol-A containing plastic. And, again, when possible, purchase products that are packaged in glass or unlined cans.

As for phthalates and personal care products, check the Skin Deep database that EWG has developed to learn about what the personal-care products you use have in them, and then select the safest alternatives listed on the Skin Deep database.

Plastic Problems

Recently I did a two-part podcast with KMO at C-Realm on backyard poultry and toxic burden. During the interview I mentioned some of the potential health issues associated with plastic water bottles. I particularly mentioned bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in hard plastics, such as the polycarbonate water bottles that so many people carry today.

BPA is an endocrine disrupting chemical, implicated in a variety of things that are troubling us. The evidence is especially strong that it causes fetal toxicity, which can result in either miscarriage or still birth. It's also connected with reduced conception, usually caused by low sperm counts or abnormal sperm production in men and/or menstrual disorders in women, and several developmental disorders and birth defects. Two that I heard a lot about while attending a conference* this year are chryptorchism (undescended testicles), and hypospadia, a condition in which the opening in the penis is along the shaft, rather than at the tip. Hypospadia, the now the second most common congenital birth defect, having increased in frequency 300% in just the last 30 years.



After hearing the podcast, one of KMO's listeners sent an email asking, "So does this go for all plastic water bottles (like the kind used for mountain bikes too?) I also send my kids to school with water bottles, so I wonder what a good substitute for those would be. I guess metal since glass could get broken."

I decided to answer the listener's question here:

First, as far as BPA goes, it is in polycarbonate plastics (which has a number 7 in the recycle mark). That includes most of the plastic water bottles like bikers use. The other common plastic bottles (that soda, juice, and water usually come in) are a softer plastic than polycarbonate. Known as PETE (for polyethylene terephthalate, and recognized by number 1 in the recycle mark), these plastics don't contain BPA, but do contain phthalates, another plasticisizing chemical that is associated with many of the same problems as BPA.

What can you do? Reduce your exposures to these chemicals (and especially your children's exposures). How? Start by choosing glass and steel when those options are available. For example, for hot or cold drinks that you carry with you, try stainless steel containers that aren't resin coated on the inside. Check Kleen Kanteen.

Some years ago, I also consciously switched from using plastic for most food storage, to using lots more glass for food storage. Ball jars (the canning jars of yore) are great for storing left overs of all kinds in the fridge — you can see what's in them, and they really do seal well. The tops can be reused hundreds of times when the food is in the fridge (unlike when they are actually used for canning purposes). I use them for storing almost every kind of food imaginable, including cheese, meat, and raw veggies. If you look in my fridge, about the only plastic you normally see is bread in its plastic bag.

Coming tomorrow: Part 2 of what you can do to reduce exposures!

* The conference was co-sponsored by the Collaborative on Health and Environment and the School of Medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. The Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health, was held in January, 2007 at UCSF.