BPA-free Bottle? use Glass Bottle!

Weeks back, we've heard of BPA-free bottles, from SL and KH that visited us. While nothing more was mentioned except that they prefer a brand that sound something like "num" (which I guess is MAM), I've start googling around today and do some research.

A short excerpt from Wikipedia:

Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is a difunctional building block of several important polymers and polymer additives. With an annual production of approximately 3 million tonnes, it is an important monomer in the production of polycarbonate.

Suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s, concerns about the use of Bisphenol A in consumer products grabbed headlines in 2008 when several governments issued reports questioning its safety, and some retailers pulled products made from it off their shelves.

So that's what BPA is, and apparently, according to this buzz post, Avent appears to be one of manufacturers that is still producing non BPA free bottles. The post compare BPA with Tobacco, in which many studies had shown that Cigarette is harmful and yet occasional you'll heard some smokers telling about it isn't that harmful as compare to what was exhausted from petrol engines.

Take a further look at AVENT's website, and their response to this issue specifically:

Are Philips AVENT’s polycarbonate baby bottles safe?
As recently as April 2008, the FDA reconfirmed its long standing view regarding the safety of polycarbonate for food contact, including baby feeding bottles concluding that “…products containing BPA currently on the market are safe and that exposure levels to BPA from food contact materials, including for infants and children, are below those that may cause health effects.” This conclusion is consistent with studies conducted by regulatory bodies in Europe and Japan.

Well, while I'm confident that AVENT bottles are alright for my baby, let's continue on to research further on what was being reported of BPA and bottles.

From the AVENT's site, I've followed the link to http://www.bisphenol-a.org/human/consafety.html which is written by the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group. Certainly that it will be biased, but after reading the findings and the citation that they've claimed, it is quite promissing. Then, you may also refer to this for the opposite study that mentioned US FDA's assessment isn't correct and even more here.

There are, however, some guildlines that as parents, we shall follow to avoid possibilly more amount of BPA to be leaked into the milk. Refer to BabySafe by the Environmental Working Group which give a simple and yet comprehensive information on safely for your baby.

Surprisingly, the MUM's brand of product isn't all BPA free according to the Z Recommendation, maybe only those bottles that could expose to high temperature are of their concern. Although on AVENT website, it says that they are now producing BPA free bottles, I'm sure it haven't arrive at the local market yet and even if it does so, mines are not BPA-free bottles.

As a science graduate, I would love to do experiments and study on BPA myself if possible, but ofcourse I can't for obvious reason. And to the strictest sense, it is not safe to heat plastic stuff (polymer of any sort) at high heat, no matter if you use BPA free or non-BPA free ones. However, we've seen now bakery shops are using highly flexible baking tray that is "safe", at least you eat them every now and then. And back to the baby safety, a breast feeding mum may need to avoid any kind of drink in a disposable cup, especially hot drink, as that are likely to have BPA (or any sort of possibly harmful leaks) as well which will inturn consumed by the infant by means of breast feeding.

Yes, so after reading all these stuff, it is guarantte to be safe to use a Glass Milk Bottle instead! (which I wanted in fact, but there is none in the store!)

Update: Further search, I've found that the very kiasu and kiasi Singapore, its Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) announced that it is not banning these non BPA-free bottles and it is safe for use.