Anyone for Another Drink of Bisphenol A?

I had an overflowing cabinet of plastics in the kitchen. A plastic for ANYTHING...cups, lids, sippy cups, round plastic, square plastic, rectangular plastic, water bottles on the go, etc. You name it we had it in plastic. Then, on a quick errand I noticed a big "BPA-FREE" tag on a water bottle at a sporting goods store. Huh? I'd heard the term before but really had no idea what it meant and certainly no idea why I should want to pay more for it (or rather for something withOUT it).

So I started doing my research online. Apparently Bisphenol A is a potentially harmful hormone-altering chemical found in some plastics (particularly a sub-set of the plastics with recycling label #7, and in particular the hard, clear plastics). Hmmm, those are the ones my now eight year old has been using ever since he could successfully drink from a cup. AND, better still as I read on, I found numerous recommendations to chunk all plastics over 6 months old and any plastics with cracks. OKAY. ALL of my plastics were over 6 months old...most over 6 years. And, many of them had cracks. I never liked the orange look of plastics that had previously stored curries or tomato sauces, but I had no idea it could be harmful to my family.

Seemed to be an affirmation of that voice in back of mind saying, "Hmm. This does not look so good for storing, keeping and re-heating my food. And maybe that sippy cup lid is yielding more plastic flavor than actual drink at this point after being chewed on so long?"

So, even on a tight budget, I took the plunge and equipped each family member with one Klean Kanteen for outings and totally cleared out the cabinet full of plastics and replaced it with about 8 different shapes and sizes of Pyrex dishes with lids from Target. I chose the Klean Kanteens because they don't have the epoxy resins that Sigg uses and are slightly more affordable and one month into it still prove to be leak-free. I've also started saving and reusing the glass bottles that jellies, sauces and kimchi come in for additional storage without additional cost. PLUS, that huge family of plastics hasn't exactly been kicked to the curb...just relocated to the gameroom and closets for storage of markers, buttons, legos and other goodies that are quite happy to have new see-through homes.

My thoughts are this...if there's a reasonable cause to suspect that something may be harming my children and if convenience is really the only thing preventing me from changing...then that is the kind of change that I can and should support. Not panic, not paranoia, just trying to provide the best I can for my kids.

RELATED LINKS:
http://greenliving.suite101.com/article.cfm/kitchen_plastics
http://lifewithoutplastic.com/
http://www.grinningplanet.com/2004/11-09/chemicals-plastic-storage-containers-article.htm
http://healthychild.org/uploads/File/PocketGuidePlastics.pdf