Rethinking Concern Over Health Canada’s Not So BPA-free Test Results

The blogosphere is on fire with frenzied talk of Health Canada’s recent study finding BPA in major baby bottle brands claiming to be BPA-free.  Now before you run screaming to throw out all of your plastic bottles, take a minute to work through this situation with us.  We don’t believe much concern is warranted.

We also don’t claim to be scientists, but there were several noticeable discrepancies in the way Health Canada presented their findings that made us stop and say, “Hmmm”.   So we gathered a little background info on the study and spoke with one of the top U.S. baby bottle manufacturers to get his take on the situation.  He walked us through the study, giving us several points to ponder:

1. All major baby bottle brands were in included in the study and every single brand was found to leach BPA, including his.  That’s really strange considering his products  are regularly tested by an independent lab for all endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC’s) – not just BPA – and have been found to be 100%  EDC-free.
2. There was no control group used in the study.  Instead they used a controlled variable by testing the solution used to submerse the bottles in before and after the test.  This is a glaring misstep that undermines all test results and conclusions.
3. No specific data was given on each bottle brand.  Instead, all results were combined and averaged.  This makes no sense, especially when there were only two brands with “high” levels of BPA migration.
4. All bottles were washed together in the same dishwasher.  In the research we’ve done, many dishwashers are encased in a polycarbonate shell.  One has to question how much BPA was released from the dishwasher onto the surface of the bottles.
5. Several glass bottle brands were tested for lead, but not for BPA.  This requires the assumption that glass baby bottles are automatically BPA-free, which may not always be the case.  One point of the study was to investigate the possibility that BPA-free bottles may be contaminated with BPA during production.  So it stands to reason that one should assume the same BPA contamination could happen by accident in a glass manufacturing facility.

These few points are enough for us to question the study in its entirety.  We would like to see the study redone correctly.  Manufacturers need to held accountable for their BPA-free claims and made aware of possible manufacturing based contamination – if that is indeed the situation.  Until then, we won’t be making any drastic moves based on the conclusions of this study.