Harmful Sippy Cups??

I threw all of my Avent bottles and misc. sippy cups away after my mother-in-law told me about Born Free products. They are slightly more expensive than the average brand but it's well worth it. You can buy them at Whole Foods but I recommend going to their website - it's a better deal. Good luck to you.

A.

The chemical you're talking about is bisphenol-A (BPA). It leeches out of plastic water bottles, too.

I've been wondering if we should go back to those pyrex-style bottles I remember still seeing once in a while when I was a little kid!

There is a great site where I bought my daughter a water bottle to use at school called Reusable Bags:
http://reusablebags.com/

They sell SIGG water bottles with sippy attachments (the sippy part is a safe plastic and the part the liquid sits in is stainless steel, which is safe.

There's another kind they sell, called Kleen Kanteen. Not sure if they have sippy attachments or not.

I will say if you get a SIGG, definitely buy the handles or an insulated sleeve- they get VERY cold to the touch when you have a cold drink in them! (Which is good- your drink stays cool!)

Also, for later, you might want to remember that most lunchboxes are made of bad plastics or vinyl which contains lead. This site is good for finding lunchboxes too, or we bought my daughter one from Hannah Anderson that is safe.

These things ARE pricier, but I think it's worth it for the peace of mind.

Amanda

Yes, its from the type of plastic they use to make baby bottles, sippy cups, toys etc. You need to look for the recycling triangle on the bottom. Look at the number inside the triangle, that will tell you what type of plastic it is. Go online and find out the types of plastics. I know that #7 is the one that has the chemical that affects reproductive organs. I removed all my #7 plastics. But, you should know that companies aren't required to put it on their product. So, the "general" rule is that the clear (see-through) plastics are more likely than not to be #7 plastics. Call/email the manufacturer and they can tell you. Good luck.
C.

Born Free makes bottles and cups out of the "safe" plastic.

Their website is www.newbornfree.com

T.

Check out this site, I didn't know about the different numbers on the plastic recycling containers.

http://www.eurekarecycling.org/PDFS/Recycling_Plastic_Com...

Pretty informative, thanks for bringing this topic up, no more heating plastic containers in microwave!

Other than "Born Free", your best bet would be glass bottles if you are concerned. There is no such thing as "organic" platic. With plastics, as long as you don't heat them or use them for years and years, they should be safe for short term use. The problem is that over long periods of time they break down or "leach", but no one is totally sure when this process begins.

Here is an article on the subject from ABC News... http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2138565&page=1

Apparently, this has been a known issue for several years... this site has some article dating back to 2003 (I havent fully explored the site: http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-de...

Another article, but this one isn't preficting mass doom for those of us who use plastic:

"...while the experts have slightly different opinions on phthalates and bisphenol A, they do agree on one thing: You don't need to throw out your frozen dinners or your plastic storage containers, and you should use your plastics as they're intended.

'You want to use containers for the purpose for which they were designed,' says Pauli. 'All testing in food safety containers is tested to be safe under the intended conditions of use. If it says suitable for microwaving, it is.'"

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey...

I personally have not thrown out any of my plastics and use them according to the manufacturers instructions (some can be microwaved, others cant, and generally I dont microwave hardly any of them anyway).