Blaming the economy, bottle maker Adiri closed up shop today. This notice was posted on their home page and sent to retailers:
We at Adiri would like to thank our loyal customers, retailers and partners for all the support you have provided Adiri and its products over the years.
Unfortunately, due to the financial pressures that many businesses face today, we made the difficult decision to cease all business operations.
Our friends at the Z Recommends blog have a fascinating post today about metal-water bottle maker SIGG, which recently announced their bottles are BPA-free.
Funny story---this same company denied their bottles contained BPA during the great BPA ruckus a few years ago. Now that they've come up with a new BPA-free lining, they've admitted that, uh, the previous lining did contain BPA!
The six largest bottle makers in the U.S. announced last week they are giving up on Bisphenol-A (BPA), the chemical formerly used in polycarbonate bottles.
As reported in the Washington Post last Friday, the bottle makers were reacting to a request from the attorney general of Connecticut to voluntarily stop selling bottles with the chemical.
We've been following this controversy since 2007, when health concerns about BPA prompted us to stop recommending polycarbonate bottles (click the bottle category to the right to read more on this).
The move against BPA picked up steam last year when major chains announced their attention to drop BPA-laden bottles. That forced bottle makers to roll out non-BPA plastic bottles in the recent months, even though they insisted at the time that BPA was safe. But with few stores willing to sell the old polycarbonate bottles, bottle makers have now decided to pull all BPA bottles from the market.
For a full discussion of this issue, see our book Baby 411.
Bottom line: most baby bottles sold in chain stores are now-BPA free (check the label to be sure). While there might be old stock of these bottles still on the shelves in smaller stores, most chain stores are selling only BPA-free bottles.
We've been beating up Babies R Us for the last few weeks over the Jardine recall, so let's take a second to applaud the chain when they do something right: reader Elizabeth F. writes in today with word of a free (and unadvertised) bottle exchange program at BRU.
As you remember, BRU (along with other major retailers) announced they were phasing out polycarbonate baby bottles that contain BPA in the coming year. But what if you bought $100 worth of BPA bottles before they made that announcement? Elizabeth writes:
I heard something from a mom in my playgroup that Babies R Us was allowing customers to bring in their BPA containing bottles of any brand, and exchange them for BPA-free bottles at no cost. I thought that was too good to be true, but I thought it was worth a try. I sent my husband in with 9 bottles, a mix of Avent and Dr. Brown's - and he came home with 9 new BPA free Dr. Brown's bottles for free! It is true.
All you have to do is bring in complete bottle assemblies - caps, nipples, bottle, etc. - and BRU will exchange them, bottle per bottle, for any BPA free bottle. It is quite amazing. I thought your readers might be interested in this, as BRU has not published anything on their website or advertised this policy to my knowledge. I wouldn't have known about it if that mom hadn't told me. I hope you find this info useful.
Toys"R"Us, Inc. is committed to the safety of all its customers and is vigilant about staying current with emerging scientific and other thinking about ingredients in products sold in its stores. While the FDA has not changed its position on the safety of products made with Bisphenol-A (BPA), in light of growing consumer concerns on this topic, the company has been working with manufacturers to phase out all baby bottles and other baby feeding products containing BPA in its Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores nationwide. This process is ongoing and is expected to be completed before the end of 2008.
This is not a big surprise---after Wal-Mart dumped polycarbonate bottles last week, we figured it was only a matter of time until Babies R Us had to follow When Wal-Mart looks more green than your chain, that's a bit embarrassing! But, in the end, we are glad Babies R Us is doing the right thing.
This leaves only one major chain: Target. We guess they will join the crowd shortly, perhaps by adding a Michael Graves-designed glass bottle to the market.
And we've heard nary a peep out of the biggest BPA bottle maker: Avent, which just saw their 63% share of the baby bottle market go POOF! overnight.
In our continuing coverage of the baby bottle/BPA controversy, the latest salvo comes from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) which issued a statement about Canada's proposed ban on polycarbonate baby bottles (see full statement below).
The JPMA is now in the Confused stage of grief, mourning the passing of the polycarbonate bottle. How can we tell? The JPMA's statement includes not one, but TWO expressions of "confusion" over what Canada is doing:
"Based on the information presented today by Health Minister Tony Clement and his panel of experts, we're confused as to the reason for the ban."
And
"We're clearly confused and very disappointed as to their decision to ban polycarbonate baby bottles without significant evidence that BPA causes any harm to humans."
We can understand why the JPMA is so "confused" here---together with the American Chemistry Council, they have put out numerous press statements that say, essentially, BPA bottles are SAFE! Because the cherry-picked studies they cite say so! And the FDA says polycarbonate bottles are SAFE!
Sure, they can ignore the NIH report. Or declare that the NIH's "some concern" comment really isn't SERIOUS concern---but sooner or later, the crushing reality of studies that show potential harm just keep creeping into the JPMA's sub-conscious. And that is so confusing!
We smell a PR campaign tactic here. Notice how the American Chemistry Council spokesperson (on NBC's Today Show today) calls the situation with baby bottles so "confusing." (Watch the video here). So, is this the best you can do, boys? Make it sound like the Canada decision is really just a crazy, confusing event---and we should wait until the FDA weighs in?
In their statement, the JPMA urges parents to contact bottle makers for info . . . like Playtex. Wait, don't go there! Playtex has just announced it is dropping BPA in all its products by year's end.
Meanwhile, this leaves the JPMA with just two, rather unpleasant options:
• Declare war on Canada. Hey, it worked for South Park.
• Sponsor this summer's Weird Al concert tour, where he will sing this song:
The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), which represents the baby bottle manufacturers in the United States and Canada, is extremely disappointed in Health Canada's announcement today calling for a ban of polycarbonate baby bottles containing bisphenol A (BPA).
"Based on the information presented today by Health Minister Tony Clement and his panel of experts, we're confused as to the reason for the ban. During the conference call, it was repeated numerous times that parents shouldn't worry and that the risk of exposure to BPA is extremely low," said Mike Dwyer, CAE, executive director of JPMA. According to Health Canada's announcement, "The scientists concluded in this assessment that bisphenol A exposure to newborns and infants is below levels that may pose a risk."
"Health Canada has been arbitrary in their decision to ban products despite the fact that they have acknowledged that exposure levels to BPA for infants from polycarbonate baby bottles are well '...below levels that could cause harmful affects,'" said Dwyer. "We're clearly confused and very disappointed as to their decision to ban polycarbonate baby bottles without significant evidence that BPA causes any harm to humans."
Consumers can rest assured that plastic baby bottles are safe. In fact, sound and respected scientific research has consistently shown there is no danger to consumers when products are used as intended. Trace levels of bisphenol A from consumer products are well below any level that could cause harm to adults or to our children.
In spite of this strong scientific support, misinformation about polycarbonate baby bottles continues to circulate and as a result is needlessly scaring parents and caregivers away from a trusted and safe product. Several studies provide additional strong support for the safe use of polycarbonate bottles:
-- The National Toxicology Program's (NTP) Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction recently released a draft NTP Brief on bisphenol A which affirms that there are no serious or high level concerns for adverse effects of bisphenol A on human reproduction and development. The NTP Brief confirms that human exposure to BPA is extremely low and noted no direct evidence to BPA adversely affects reproduction or development.
-- TNO, a prominent Dutch Research organization, subjected 18 different brands of polycarbonate baby bottles sold in Europe to a series of tests to determine the level of BPA that migrates under real-life microwave heating or sterilizing conditions. The study determined that microwave heating has no effect on migration of BPA from polycarbonate bottles and indicates that microwave heating can be safely used to warm contents of a polycarbonate bottle or to sterilize the bottles. Migration levels measured in this and earlier studies using other modes of heating are all well below science-based safety standards set by government agencies.
-- Researchers from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority and the Official Food Control Authority of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland recently conducted a very comprehensive set of experiments designed to assess whether any real-life dishwashing condition, "even rather improbable conditions and scenarios," could lead to BPA levels above safety standards. They concluded "that even under extreme conditions and scenarios the amount of BPA released from polycarbonate baby bottles is clearly below the TDI [Tolerable Daily Intake; a European science-based safety standard] for babies."
-- Toxicologist Calvin Willhite from the California Environmental Protection Agency recently completed a two-year BPA risk assessment on his own time with NSF International, a not for profit, public health and safety company. He reviewed more than 4,000 studies on BPA, carefully analyzing the scientific data and determining a more current "safe number" for humans; what's known as a reference dose. The independent analysis, published in February 2008 issue of the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health , showed very small amounts of BPA leaching into bottles under extreme conditions, when they were heated to 176 degrees for 24 hours. The study concluded that "the concentration that's in there is infinitesimal, and it's at least 500 and closer to a thousand times less than what you can calculate from the most rigorous studies" available.
Found in a wide variety of products, lightweight and shatter-resistant polycarbonate plastic has been the material of choice in baby bottles for 25 years. From baby bottles and food packaging, to bicycle helmets and eyeglass lenses, as well as incubators and components of many life-saving medical devices, polycarbonate plastic makes everyday lives better and safer.
JPMA encourages parents to contact the bottle manufacturer if they have a question or concern. Most of the manufacturers have toll-free numbers and many have information posted on their Web sites.
JPMA is committed to educating the juvenile product industry and the public about the safety of polycarbonate baby bottles. To that end, JPMA has established a Web site, www.babybottle.org, as a resource for anyone looking to learn more about the safety of plastic baby bottles. For more information on the safety of juvenile products, please visit: http://www.jpma.org.
The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association exists to advance the interests, growth and well-being of the juvenile products industry through advocacy, public relations, information sharing, and business development opportunities.
For more information about the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, contact the executive office at 15000 Commerce Parkway, Suite C, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054; phone: 856-638-0420; fax: 856-439-0525, email: jpma@ahint.com, or visit: http://www.jpma.org.
Wow, the news on the demise of polycarbonate bottles over BPA concerns is coming in so fast, we may need to do hourly updates.
Here is the latest news:
• Wal-Mart has announced it will pull all polycarbonate baby bottles off the shelves in US stores by early 2009. This move follows a move from Wal-Mart's Canadian operation to remove bottles from the shelves this week. Speaking of Canada . . .
• Canada intends to ban the import and sale of plastic polycarbonate bottles, reports Reuters today. Canada would be the first country to do take this action; in the past week, major Canadian retailers removed BPA bottles from their shelves.
• Nalgene, one of the biggest makers of hard-plastic water bottles sold in stores like REI, announced today that it will pull all its bottles containing BPA from store shelves in the coming weeks. This is rather stunning news, as Nalgene's colored water bottles are practically issued to every incoming college student and high schooler.
• As we had predicted, the JPMA has gone to DEFCON 1, furiously putting out press statements that polycarbonate baby bottles are SAFE! Really!
Here's a direct quote: “The findings in NTP’s draft report provide reassurance that consumers can continue to use products made from BPA,” said the president of JPMA.
Since this apparently isn't working, the JPMA has resorted to Plan B: blame the media. In a statement yesterday, the JPMA "strongly urges the media to stop circulating news stories with speculations as to the impending release of Health Canada's assessment of bisphenol A (BPA)."
That's because if the media, book authors and blogs would stop writing about BPA, the hazard would just go away!
Also from the JPMA: "JPMA is extremely disappointed in the media for speculating that Health Canada's assessment of BPA would recommend labeling the chemical a dangerous substance, when in fact the report has not even been issued yet."
Oops. As we noted above, Canada has just called for a ban on polycarbonate baby bottles. Back to the drawing board, boys.
One thing we didn't see coming from the JPMA: an entire web site devoted to the JPMA's spin on this controversy, with a helping hand from the plastics industry.
That's the news so far today! Stay tuned for more breaking updates.
As you've probably heard, polycarbonate baby bottles have officially jumped the shark. Themedia is buzzing with the latest news: a federal report will declare bottles that contain BPA dangerous for infants and small children.
Readers of this blog (and our books) already know about BPA and baby bottles, as we withdrew our recommendation of these bottles back in August. We've also tracked new BPA-free alternatives from such mainstream bottle makers as Dr. Browns and linked to a blog with an extensive directory of BPA-free bottle and sippy cup options.
So, what will happen next? Let's peer into our crystal ball to predict what's next for this controversy:
• The JPMA will shortly issue a statement saying "Federal Panel reaffirms safety of baby bottles!" Yes, in the upside down world of the Juvenile Products Manufacturer's Association, this will be a VICTORY for plastic baby bottles makers . . . as the government didn't really ban them! (Yet). And plastic bottles are safe . . . because the plastics industry and the bottle makers say that's so!
Just like in the Wizard of Oz: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
Math professors at MIT will soon name a new mathematical concept: the JPMA Constant—the time between something REALLY BAD happening to a baby product . . . and the moment the JPMA responds with a press release saying everything is fine. And the media is just trying to scare parents with biased reporting! (FYI: The JPMA constant is usually measured in nanoseconds).
• WWBRUD? What will Babies R Us do? The next major event in the baby bottle battle will be at Babies R Us: given this new federal report, will the country's largest chain of baby gear stores pull BPA bottles off the shelf? It's hard not to imagine that the pressure is building at BRU to do something. If polycarbonate bottles are pulled, that next sound of screaming you will hear will be coming from . . .
• Avent. The baby bottle market leader has taken a "hear no evil, see no evil" approach to this issue---steadfastly defending their bottles. And refusing to come out with alternatives. Now we'll see if that bet pays off.
• Formula cans. A little-noticed side debate in the BPA controversy: formula cans are lined with the stuff. And since they are pasteurized at the factory, how much BPA has leached into baby formula? Watch for Whole Foods to require its formula cans to be BPA free---and for the regular supermarket chains to follow suit shortly.
• Canada.Three major Canadian retailers have pulled BPA bottles from their shelves this week. It's possible Canada will be the first country to go BPA-free.
Well, those are our predictions. Feel free to chime in with what you think will happen next!
We must give a shout-out to fellow bloggers at Z Recommends for their excellent research on which baby bottles (and other products) contain BPA. The blog has just updated their BPA guide with a third edition, adding pacifiers, breast pumps and more. The blog has info on 42 companies and their BPA-free options.
Kudos to the Z Recs folks---they are doing what most companies refuse to disclose: which of their products contain BPA. And what BPA-free alternatives are available!
As we have reported earlier, Dr. Brown's is debuting a glass bottle amid the controversy swirling around polycarbonate bottles and BPA. Today we get the official word: the glass Dr. Brown's bottle will be released next month. It will be available in two sizes: 3.5 oz and 7oz. Two-packs will retail for $13.
Also new: Dr. Brown's hopes to release a polypropylene bottle in March 2008.
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