Wednesday, January 21, 2009

This will be IT for BPA (for a while)

I have spared you my rantings about bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical which occurs during the production of plastics. The principal concern has been with any minute TRACES of BPA which may be found in drinking bottles, especially in baby formula bottles. We all agree that anything which might endanger the health of an infant should be taken extremely seriously.

Since last I posted about this, there have been myriad opinions published on both sides of the BPA argument. Some are monographs from governments (plural) favoring both sides of the discussion, and some are from "private" or "independent" research groups, again
favoring both sides of the discussion. In each case the published papers use terms like "we believe" and "consensus." To use the idea of BELIEF in this case stretches reality. A "belief" indicates an act of faith not necessarily based upon hard fact. And CONSENSUS means that a majority of involved parties voted one way or the other over the smaller voting group. "Consensus" is not science; it is sort of intellectual bullying. "More of us think X is true than people in your group, which thinks X is NOT true. So we win. Ha Ha."

I am still drinking out of BPA and non-BPA bottles. I agree that, as the FDA has stated, BPA in the tiny concentrations which may show up in drinking bottles is not dangerous to people who are not infants. HOWEVER if anyone wants bottles which are guaranteed BPA-free, we have bottle suppliers who guarantee no BPA. We can produce them either way. Your call.

Thanks for putting up with this. FKS

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