Strollerderby : sippy cups

Leaked Minutes: BPA Makers Fight Back

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT

The public health blog Effect Measure has gotten their hands on a set of leaked minutes from a meeting of representatives of industries that use the toxic endocrine-mimicker bisphenol-A (BPA) on how to counter the negative media about it.

It's rich: They figure getting a scientific spokesperson won't be possible (gee, why?), but are hoping to find a young pregnant mom to do it. They want to emphasize the loss of conveinence to poor folks and busy mothers, appeal to our desire for choices, and make us worry about losing jobs. They don't figure they can win on Facebook and complain about already having spent too much money on this.

In fact it's so rich that I have to acknowledge that while I have no reason to doubt its veracity, if I were writing a satire of how I expected such a meeting to go, it would look just like that. Only it would be shorter and less detailed.

So y'all: You are forewarned. Someone's going to try to tell you BPA is good for you and your kids. It'll be just as insincere and self-serving as it sounds.

Photo of BPA-free sippy cups CC Tiffany Washko, via Flickr.

More by this author:

BPA More Ubiquitous and Tenacious than Previously Thought

Shannon LC Cate — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:04:00 GMT

Bisphenol A (BPA), a controversial chemical many scientists say contributes to a variety of health problems, has been used for years to harden plastics, like the plastic used in many baby bottles. You've probably heard the outcry among parents and seen the shift to "non-BPA" plastic bottles, glass bottles, stainless steel bottles and the like.

Now scientists say that either BPA is not eliminated from the body as quickly as its defenders have always claimed, or we are all exposed to much more of it than previously supposed. Researchers tested subjects by having them fast for various lengths of time and found that the BPA in participants' urine changed little from those who had recently eaten to those who had fasted for several hours.

Scientists speculate that tap water, house dust, and other sources may be causing a more constant level of exposure to the chemical. It is also possible that BPA lingers in the body long after exposure. It is, of course, most disturbingly possible that both are true.

This is a big problem because when the FDA ruled last year (to great protest from the scientific community) that BPA is safe enough not to ban, it based its conclusion on the idea that humans are exposed to only a tiny amount of BPA--far lower than lab animal testing suggested might be problematic. Now it looks like we are exposed to quite a bit more of it--or it builds up in our bodies--than we knew. It could be that a BPA pile-up in our bodies could reach those more dangerous levels.

As soon as I learned about BPA, I switched out my plastic baby bottles to glass, my plastic sippy cups to stainless steel, my plastic food containers to glass and I tossed all toys my kids chewed on that might contain it. But as a working mom with two small children and a mountain of laundry, house dust is far from my control, however fruitlessly I attempt to combat it. Here's hoping researchers find the answers about BPA soon, and do something to protect those of us with out of control dust bunnies.

For more on how we manage to accidentally poison our children, see:

Trace Mercury Found in High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Peanut Corporation of America Knowingly Sold Tainted Food

Peanut Allergies, Peanut Schmallergies?

Web Index of Recalled Peanut Butter Products

What Will Tainted Peanut Butter Really Do to Our Kids?

Peanut Butter Recall Expanded

Peanut Allergy Scare Overblown?

Greenhouse: BPA Ban Fails

Amy Kuras — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:30:00 GMT

Proponents of banning bisphenol-A, a chemical used in baby bottles, sippy cups, and the coating of formula cans were handed a huge defeat Monday, when the California Legislature voted down a bill that would ban the chemical from baby bottles.

Another bill to ban a chemical compound called PFOA, which is used in food packaging and is a key ingredient in Teflon, also was defeated.

Concern has been growing among parents about BPA, which is believed to mimic hormones in the body and disrupt the endocrine system. It's been linked to male infertility, among other issues, and is widely used in baby bottles and sippy cups, although more and more BPA-free alternatives are on store shelves.

Senate Bill 1713 by Sen. Carol Migden of San Francisco, would have banned bisphenol-A from baby bottles and other products. Laboratory studies show the chemical harms brain development. Migden's measure failed on a 27-31 vote when 22 legislators abstained from voting.

Senate Bill 1313, by Sen. Ellen Corbett of San Leandro, would have banned the chemical PFOA from food packaging, which has been identified as a likely human carcinogen. It fell five votes short of the 41 needed with 11 members of the Assembly not voting.

However, the Food and Drug Administration released a report last Friday, right before the California vote, declaring that BPA is safe in the levels human are typically exposed to.

The chemical industry rallied aginst the bills, running ads showing an empty grocery cart in a dry lake bed, wich implied that every item in a typical grocery list would have to be pulled frmo the shelve sif the bill were to pass.

It's possible the legislature will revisit both bills again.

The Biggest Driving Mistakes Moms Make

Amy Kuras — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:32:00 GMT

As responsible parents, we'd never drive drunk, tailgate out of road rage, try to apply makeup or read while driving, right?
But turns out some very common behaviors are just as dangerous. According to this story from MSNBC, a recent University of Utah study found that subjects using cell phones in a driving simulation had three accidents, while those who were drunk had none (although I take major issue with the story for this: "Tempting as it may be to use free minutes to schedule a playdate…." Sure. Because everything we do as mothers has to be about our children. It's not like we have jobs or friends or volunteer activities we might need to check in with, no, we're just shopping, cooking, cleaning, playdate-scheduling machines.).

Other dangerous behaviors are eating behind the wheel, drowsy driving, and tending to our kids while in the car (passing out snacks and handing over sippy cups, for example). It all comes down to driver distraction. Distractions of just three seconds cause fully 80 percent of accidents.

I know so far, I've been lucky – the multiple times I've reached or glanced back to tend to my kids while driving have resulted in other drivers not hitting me, (but probably wishing they could because I'm driving like an idiot). I must say, my cell phone's been broken for about a month now and while I miss the convenience of catching up on calls while I am out and about, I'm glad I have had a chance to break the habit.

Should TomKat Still Be Giving Suri a Bottle?

Jen Chaney — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:32:00 GMT

The gossip magazines provide plenty of reasons to question TomKat's parenting skills. But is it fair to go after Mr. Cruise and Ms. Holmes for continuing to give their two-year-old daughter, Suri, a bottle?

The adorable little girl has frequently been photographed hitting the town with Mommy and Daddy while toting around a babby bottle, even though she turned two last month. (No one has inquired yet as to whether she still uses a bottle all jacked up with BPA. An investigation into this crucial issue will undoubtedly be launched by Us Weekly.)

Most parents start the process of weaning the kid off the 'ol faux nipple sometime shortly after baby's first birthday. One orthodontist even tells the New York Daily News that feeding Suri milk or juice via a bottle at this age could be damaging her teeth, the last thing the Good Lord would want for the daughter of Capt. Smiley. So why hasn't the Cruise family kicked her of the habit?

It's unclear, although they were spotted over the weekend watching David Beckham play soccer, and Suri was notably bottle-less at the time. Still, here is the bigger question: Do we, the public at large, have a right to judge Tom and Katie for their bottle-serving habits? Does it make them bad parents?

It might, but I have to err on the side of we don't have a right to make the call, if only because it seems harshly judgmental to criticize their parenting skills when we are basing our information largely on photos and stories in not-always-reputable media outlets. Still, it definitely doesn't look good for Suri to have that bottle in her hand. And if Tom Cruise wants to continue bolstering his image as the Ultimate Movie Star Dad, then he would be smart to at least start slipping her a sippy cup.

It may be true that they are fostering a bad habit, which is clearly not wise. But they're not endangering her life by, say, driving around with her in their laps or something. Only someone with serious problems would do that.

Photo: Famecrawler

BPA-Free? Not So Much

Amy Kuras — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:54:00 GMT

We're all worried these days about bisphenol-A (or BPA), a chemcial that leaches from hard, clear plastic polycarbonate baby bottles and can cause disruptions ot the endocrine system
So what a fabulous idea from Amazon to open their BPA-Free Baby Store, gathering a selection of their products that don't use the chemical and putting them all in one place on the site.
Only one problem: Some of the products do contain BPA.
According to Z Recommends, which uncovered the problem, only four of 14 products lumped in the BPA-Free Store contained BPA, and of those, two had it in the handles or a flip-top that covered a sippy spout –in other words, areas that were unlikely to leach (BPA leaches when the plastic containing it is heated, which is why bottles are such a concern).
Two of the others, though, were bottles: Gerber's ComfortHold bottle and Dr. Brown's standard bottle. In the case of the Dr. Brown's bottle, it may have been a mix-up –the company recently introduced a glass bottle and announced plans to release a BPA-free plastic one, but clicking on the product ID number went right to their polycarbonate models.
None of the manufacturers are claiming their products are BPA-free – Amazon, however, did. A quick check of Amazon before I posted this found the offending products gone from the BPA-Free Shop, nore did they come up in a search for "BPA-Free."

Z Recommends has a very detailed report on the issue on their site, so follow the link. Their main concern, and mine, is that people could be misled into buying bottles that have BPA in them. Being a smart consumer saves the day.

Free MP3! "Springtime Fantastic" by The Sippy Cups

editors — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:05:00 GMT

The Sippy Cups aren’t coy about their influences: their album cover, with the title Electric Storyland and the blacklight-ready graphics, says it all. The San Francisco-based kids' band is all about re-capturing 60s psychedelic rock, minus those un-parent-friendly drug references (“Daddy, why does the man want to be sedated?”). If your family has a thing for Sergeant Pepper, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barrett, Sippy Cups songs like “Magic Toast” will be right up your alley. After the jump, download the catchy, trippy track “Springtime Fantastic,” which vaguely reminds us of Ben Folds Fives’ “Kate.” (In a good way.)

The Sippy Cups - Springtime Fantastic.mp3

Buy Electric Storyland here, or pick up the Sippy Cups’ brand new concert DVD here.

Babble Mix Tape appears every other Friday.

Things Fall Apart: Sippy Cups and the Deathly Hallows

Karen Murphy — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 18:08:00 GMT

Ah, the Sippy Cups of Doom! I don't know why this little trick hasn't been discovered sooner, but apparently kids have been known to chew through the plastic spout of these Playskool No Spill Toddler Sippy Cups, creating a choking hazard. 36 reports of chewed-through spouts have been reported, with likely hundreds if not thousands more unreported. I say this because my older son used to take his cups apart and chew on the squishy drip-prevention insert thing, and I can easily see how these things get chewed through. Hey, some kids are oral, you know?

About 84,000 of these cups were sold at CVS pharmacies across the US from September 2006 through April 2007 for about $5. The cups hold 8 oz. and came in clear plastic with red trim, red and yellow handles, and a yellow tip; blue trim, blue and green handles and a green tip; or purple trim, purple and aqua handles, and an aqua tip. The serial number of the recalled cups is 382814, which appears on the back of the packaging (like you kept the packaging, thanks for the handy tip, recall people!).

Take your cup back to CVS for a refund, or throw it away, I don't care which. But you're advised to stop using it either way.