How to Keep Your Baby Girl From Getting Depressed and Anxious

We’ve written before about how easy it is to make your kids sick by letting them play around with single use disposables like they’re as safe as lead paint chips or something.  

Now there’s even more definitive proof that disposable items are bad for us. The evidence against BPA (bisphenol-A) a common additive to plastic that thickens it while allowing it to remain flexible, has been mounting for years. As far as chemicals go, BPA is your regular utility player, appearing in everything from plastic water bottles to water coolers jugs, sippy cups to baby bottles.

But BPA is bad news. Evidence has been mounting for the past several years that supports a national ban of BPA (which already exists in many European countries). BPA acts like a hormone in that it affects the body’s endocrine system, which regulates metabolism, growth, mood, and a number of other functions. It’s also an unstable chemical, which means that it leaches out of into its surroundings. In other words, any time you drink from a plastic water bottle, sippy cup, or any other container made with BPA, you’re drinking BPA. 

And according to a study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it also causes anxiety and depression in girls exposed to BPA while in utero (the effects are less pronounced for boys). The study issues a recommendation that pregnant women reduce their consumption of consumer items with BPA in order to stave off behavioral problems when their baby girls become toddlers.

In many cases, companies market their products as BPA-free, but that label doesn't always mean safe. There are plenty of other chemicals that leach from plastic, the effects of which are unknown. 

Throwaway Nation officially recommends that all pregnant women avoid all single use disposable plastic items during their pregnancy.*

*We're not doctors or scientists. We just think it's a smart idea.

Comments

[NJresident]

Your post today is very important given the recent headlines about the link between pregnant women and BPA exposure.. Great picture.

How mad does this make you at ThrowAwayNation?
The Ameican Chemical Council, fought very hard against BPA restrictions.

From NY TIMES article from October 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/10/12/12greenwire-chemical-industry-shifts-on-bpa-after-spending-94235.html

"ACC had doggedly insisted that BPA is safe, and the group has fought fiercely against federal and state legislative proposals to ban the chemical, which public health advocates have linked to a hormonal disruption and other developmental problems in children.

Disclosure forms shows that ACC has invested heavily in lobbying in California since 2005, when the first bill limiting BPA was introduced in the state Legislature. And on more than one occasion, the group employed outside help to lobby on bills relating to BPA.

In total, ACC has spent more than $9.4 million on its lobbying efforts in the Golden State since 2005. It has also contributed $50,000 to state lawmakers' campaign accounts, including $4,500 to California Assembly Majority Leader Charles Calderon (D). The group has also launched online campaigns such as the website bisphenol-a.org to tout the safety of BPA.

Oh, this is the same ACC, who funded Dr Gerba's study which shows bacteria in reusable bags, a deeply flawed and misleading study.