Sheryl Crow Told Me To Do It!

I have recently learned something obvious and important: all plastic is bad. No, really, all of it is just a bunch of weirdo chemicals that screw up our hormones and God only knows (really, only He knows...) what else.

I started thinking about this for a few reasons. These aren't joke reasons, real reasons, because I can be a very shallow person:

1. Sheryl Crow said so. She said that she got breast cancer because she was always using the same water bottles, freezing them, letting them heat up in her car and drinking the water anyway. Temperature change makes things unstable; in this case, it makes the plasticy-nasty parts able to leach into your drink.

2. Everything my kids drink and eat out of is basically plastic. (Well, it was.) I started noticing that some of the plastic things I had purchased for my kids were visibly breaking down. You know how the plastic gets kind of 'roughed up' looking? Like it's peeling off and breaking down? It's probably best to put that container in the recycling bin before you ingest it accidentally.

3. I keep hearing about how microwaving in plastic is a bad idea. Given that temperature affects the stability of....everything, this makes sense. But then I realized that I microwave in Tupperware, I microwave stuff with plastic wrap on the top, etc. I have since mended my ways.

I have a friend (you know who you are!) who has given up microwaving completely because, um, it's not great for you if you inadvertantly end up eating your container AND the food you warmed up.

I posted this article on my Facebook wall: http://www.rodale.com/chemicals-plastic. They point-blank say that "There really aren't any "safer" plastics, and it's hard to predict which ones will leach estrogenic chemicals into your food. As this study shows, different plastics containing different types of foods will leach chemicals at different levels."

They also explain the chemical composition of plastic a little: "A plastic item can subsist of anywhere from five to 20 chemicals, some of which are additives, which are incorporated within the plastic polymer but not bound to the structure." says George Bittner, Ph. D.

And there's more: "You also have mold-release agents and colorants that are used to make or decorate the plastics, adds Mike Usey, CEO of PlastiPure, and those colorants tend to be highly estrogenic."

Great--chemicals, coloring, anti-mold crap, and we wonder why the cancer rates go up every year? I am going to invest in glassware to store our leftovers in. It might be a slow process, as we can afford it, but it's totally worth it.

Then the big MacDaddy plastic that has been in the news all over, BPA. There are a bunch of links below about this. It's been deemed so bad, that California has officially banned BPA, at least in children's cups and bowls, etc. California bans BPA:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/02/BA1F1KUEH2.DTL

Now, I have seen California's Prop 65, and I used to think it was a little bit overboard. However, lately I have become consumed with a desire (yes, consumed!) that food producers were held to that higher standard in every state. The FDA really isn't doing a fantastic job on this front. "Oh, a teeny bit of mercury or BPA or -insert-cancer-causing-agent-here- is fine. Just a teeny bit. We'll change it later if we find out that that tiny amount is STILL bad for people."

From U.S. News: "BPA has raised concerns because it appears to mimic the effects of estrogen, interfering with hormone levels and cell signaling systems. Previous studies have shown that people exposed to high levels of BPA have a greater risk of developing uterine fibroids, breast cancer, decreased sperm counts, and prostate cancer."

BPA in plastic bottles: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092108.htm

How BPA is ending up on our money: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/dirty-money/content?oid=3484793

I recently found out that BPA is even in the ceramic-white dental fillings. More on that later. I'm a little pissed about it because if our only choices for fillings are mercury or BPA, then I'm seriously considering living a) with a cavity or b) without a tooth.

And lastly, even though everyone knows this, we're not just hurting ourselves:
Chemicals from plastic bottles in oceans: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/ocean-bpa/

I have found some awesome stainless steel and even glass (you'd have to look, they put a PLASTIC outer on it to prevent breakage) baby bottles, sippy cups, etc. They are about triple the cost of plastic ones from Target, but you can put different toppers on them and let your kids use them throughout elementary school, or longer. Thermos Foogo makes some, Klean Kanteen, Green Sprouts, The Safe Sippy, Pura Stainless Steel bottles, New Wave, and even Munchin makes some. I'm sure there are more online.