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Tests conducted on three major brands of polycarbonate baby bottles sold in Canada found products from all the manufacturers leached detectable amounts of bisphenol A, a synthetic chemical that mimics the hormone estrogen and is a major component in many types of plastic.
The testing was conducted by Environmental Defence, a Toronto environmental group that issued its findings Thursday and is the first publicly available information on the seepage of BPA from polycarbonate baby bottles sold in the country.
The highest levels were found after the bottles were heated, which the group said was done to simulate the effects on the plastic of parents' subjecting the containers to repeated high-temperature dish washing.
The plastic industry and major baby bottle makers insist that the small amount of bisphenol A leaching from bottles should not be a concern to parents, but Health Canada is currently reviewing the safety of the chemical, which has been tied by some researchers as a possible factor in the incidence diseases tied to sex hormone imbalances, including breast and prostate cancer.
Health Canada is also conducting tests on what it calls the ”migration rates” of BPA from baby bottles, but it has not publicly released its findings. It doesn't plan to do that until May, when it completes a safety assessment into the chemical and when it will announce whether it considers exposures from plastic bottles and other products are a threat.
Environmental Defence said that, based on its findings, parents should avoid polycarbonate plastic and shift to alternatives, such as glass bottles and plastics labelled BPA free.
”Any parent that is currently using these bottles should get rid of them immediately and spring for the $40 it will take to replace them all,” said Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence.
He said parents typically have about four baby bottles, which cost about $10 each.
Environmental Defence tested brand name Gerber, Avent and Playtex polycarbonate baby bottles, checking three from each manufacturer. It found all of them released BPA when heated to 80 degrees, although all three of the Gerber bottles and one of the Avent bottles had no detectible levels in fluids stored at room temperature.
All the Playtex products leaked BPA, regardless of whether they were heated or not.
Energizer Holdings Inc., the maker of Playtex bottles, referred questions to a website statement that said ”multiple regulatory agencies ... advise us and consumers that the use of polycarbonate plastic bottles is safe and should not cause concern for parents.”
The statement said, however, that consumers who do not want to use polycarbonate should consider a separate line of products it makes that are BPA free.
Water in the heated bottles absorbed 4 to 8 parts per billion of BPA, while unheated bottles typically had hundreds of times less. One part per billion is an exceptionally small amount, equal to 1 second of elapsed time over 32 years.
Whether these minute doses are a health threat is at the heart of a major scientific controversy over BPA, with the plastics industry insisting the chemical is harmless, a view disputed by some independent academic researchers who specialize in studying hormones.
The American Chemistry Council, a trade group based in Arlington, Va., said in a statement that BPA from baby bottles ”is not a risk to human health at the extremely low levels to which consumers might be exposed.” It dismissed concerns as ”another plastic-baby-bottle scare.”
Although bisphenol A is man-made, it has a molecular shape that allows it to occupy estrogen receptors on cells. In living things, estrogen is active in concentrations in the parts per trillion range and even less, about one-thousandth the concentrations leaking from the heated baby bottles, giving rise to the worries by some researchers that the chemical might be harmful.
Bisphenol A is often identified with the plastic industry's recycling symbol of the number seven, enclosed in a triangle. Besides its use in polycarbonate, the hard, clear shatter proof plastic that looks like glass, it is also applied in DVDs, sports helmets, epoxy resins lining the insides of food cans, and dental sealants, although consumers generally have no way of knowing which of these items contains the chemical.
In response to the worries over BPA, Mountain Equipment Co-op, a major sporting goods retailer, yanked polycarbonate water bottles from store shelves last year, pending the outcome of the Health Canada review.
Mr. Smith said retailers who sell baby bottles should follow suit.
