The toxic chemical BPA, or Bisphenol A is lurking in your hard plastic water bottles, baby sippy cups, dental sealants and in your canned food. BPA acts like estrogen and increases the risk of breast cancer and early puberty in women. It can cause reproductive damage and may lead to prostate and cancer and can cross into the placenta and get into your baby’s bloodstream.
The Environmental Working Group tested canned food bought across America and found BPA in more than half of them at levels they call "200 times the government's traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals." EWG found that 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.
The December 2009 issue of Consumer Reports' tested canned foods like soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, and found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain some BPA. The canned organic foods tested did not always have lower BPA levels than nonorganic brands of similar foods analyzed. They even found the chemical in some products in cans that were labeled "BPA-free."
This chemical is everywhere! BPA is in newspaper ink and carbonless copy paper – the stuff of credit card receipts and many business and medical documents. It turns out that the average cash register receipt has anywhere from 60 to 100 milligrams of BPA that can then be transferred onto our fingers and eventually into our body if we’re not careful. What’s not known is how much BPA is getting into our blood stream from touching receipt paper.
Also, you can’t tell if the paper receipt you were just handed at the grocery store contains BPA. They look exactly the same as the paper receipts without the toxic chemical. But there are still things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Make sure you wash your hands after touching any receipts especially if you’re pregnant. Another tip is to take all of your left over receipts out of your purse or wallet and keep them in a zip-lock bag somewhere out of children’s reach.
The Environmental Working Group tested canned food bought across America and found BPA in more than half of them at levels they call "200 times the government's traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals." EWG found that 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.
The December 2009 issue of Consumer Reports' tested canned foods like soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, and found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods tested contain some BPA. The canned organic foods tested did not always have lower BPA levels than nonorganic brands of similar foods analyzed. They even found the chemical in some products in cans that were labeled "BPA-free."
This chemical is everywhere! BPA is in newspaper ink and carbonless copy paper – the stuff of credit card receipts and many business and medical documents. It turns out that the average cash register receipt has anywhere from 60 to 100 milligrams of BPA that can then be transferred onto our fingers and eventually into our body if we’re not careful. What’s not known is how much BPA is getting into our blood stream from touching receipt paper.
Also, you can’t tell if the paper receipt you were just handed at the grocery store contains BPA. They look exactly the same as the paper receipts without the toxic chemical. But there are still things you can do to protect yourself and your family. Make sure you wash your hands after touching any receipts especially if you’re pregnant. Another tip is to take all of your left over receipts out of your purse or wallet and keep them in a zip-lock bag somewhere out of children’s reach.
Widespread exposures, no safety standards. In studies conducted over the past 20 years, scientists have detected BPA in breast milk, serum, saliva, urine, amniotic fluid, and cord blood from at least 2,200 people in Europe, North America, and Asia (CERHR 2006). Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently detected BPA in 95% of nearly 400 U.S. adults (Calafat et al. 2005). EWG-led biomonitoring studies have detected BPA in people from four states and the District of Columbia (EWG 2007). BPA ranks in the top two percent of high production volume chemicals in the U.S., with annual production exceeding a billion pounds (TSCA 2006), and is so common in products and industrial waste that it pollutes not only people but also rivers, estuaries, sediment, house dust, and even air nearly everywhere it is tested.
Yet despite its ubiquity and toxicity, BPA remains entirely without safety standards. It is allowed in unlimited amounts in consumer products, drinking water, and food, the top exposure source for most people. The lack of enforceable limits has resulted in widespread contamination of canned foods at levels that pose potential risks. For instance, analysis of our tests reveals that for one of every five cans tested, and for one-third of all vegetables and pastas (ravioli and noodles with tomato sauce), a single serving would expose a pregnant woman to BPA at levels that fall within a factor of 5 of doses linked to birth defects — permanent damage of developing male reproductive organs (Figure 1).
Yet despite its ubiquity and toxicity, BPA remains entirely without safety standards. It is allowed in unlimited amounts in consumer products, drinking water, and food, the top exposure source for most people. The lack of enforceable limits has resulted in widespread contamination of canned foods at levels that pose potential risks. For instance, analysis of our tests reveals that for one of every five cans tested, and for one-third of all vegetables and pastas (ravioli and noodles with tomato sauce), a single serving would expose a pregnant woman to BPA at levels that fall within a factor of 5 of doses linked to birth defects — permanent damage of developing male reproductive organs (Figure 1).
In today’s economy, canned food is increasingly more important in creating affordable, quick and healthy meals. Despite its key role in meal preparation, common misperceptions and myths continue to surround canned foods.
So, the Canned Food Alliance examined the story of canned foods – from the farmer’s field to the family’s dinner table in the “Canned Food Field to Table” Webinar.
Don’t use canned baby formula
Don’t eat canned food if you’re pregnant, choose food in glass jars.
Check your kids baby bottles and sippy cups. If you see the # 7 on the bottom replace it with BPA-free plastic, or better yet, glass. (Connecticut, Minnesota, the city of Chicago and Suffolk County, New York, have banned baby bottles and sippy cups made with BPA.)
Choose fresh or frozen food over food in cans. The lining of cans of soups, tomato sauce and infant formula can leach BPA from the can lining.
Don’t heat plastic in your microwave or leave water bottles in a hot car
Use glass or metal water bottles to drink from
Store left over food in glass containers
Ask your dentist if the sealant being used on your kids' teeth contains BPA
Summary. Independent laboratory tests found a toxic food-can lining ingredient associated with birth defects of the male and female reproductive systems in over half of 97 cans of name-brand fruit, vegetables, soda, and other commonly eaten canned goods. The study was spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and targeted the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a plastic and resin ingredient used to line metal food and drink cans. There are no government safety standards limiting the amount of BPA in canned food.
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. 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.
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.
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