Why I Don't Recommend BPA-free Plastic

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is a component found in some types of plastic - including lots of everyday items like food & drink containers, baby bottles, children's toys, non-stick cookware, the lining of some canned food, thermal paper shop receipts, microplastics in tap water & even household dust.

Research has shown that BPA can leech from the plastic into whatever it comes into contact with, especially with heat, acidic food & wear & tear.

The issue with BPA is that it's a known endocrine disruptor - meaning it has the ability to imitate our bodies hormones and interfere with the production of, or action of, our bodies natural hormones.

Whilst many of the studies have been on animals, BPA is thought to mimic our hormone oestrogen, and has been shown to affect egg maturation, the function of the hypothalamus & pituitary glands, Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, precocious puberty, metabolic syndrome, early menopause, foetal brain development, heart disease ... the list goes on!

The statistics are pretty frightening when you look into how widespread our consumption of BPA is. A 2009 CDC study found 10 types of cancer-causing plastic additives in 92% of urine samples taken from 2,517 children aged six years and older.

So what about BPA free plastics?

To replace BPA, BPA-free items generally use compounds like BPS, BPF & BPAF, and scientists suggest that these compounds may be just as damaging to our health. The reality is, the BPA-free alternatives are not very different to BPA - they have the same basic chemical structure, with only slight differences from BPA, so it is likely that BPA-free plastics are not safe, either.

Aaaaaaahhhh, so what can we do?

We need to avoid plastics, wherever we can.

First up, don't heat or serve food in plastic.

Replace your families' plastic lunchboxes & water bottles with stainless steel or glass.

Buy dried beans over tinned, & tomato passata in glass.

Use reusable beeswax or silicone wraps instead of plastic cling film.

Replace non-stick cookware with stainless steel.

Regular dusting of the household.

Filter your drinking water to get rid of microplastics.

Some of these changes are expensive & daunting; start small, & keep going where you can.

Ultimately, it's better for our families health, and our environment.