non-food sources of BPA

If you've read the Silent Spring Institute's new findings from their study: Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention, you may be wondering some of the same things I am. If BPA is metabolized in the body in 3 days, then where is the remainder of BPA left in the bodies of the test subjects coming from? 

No one is absolutely sure, but I have some ideas.

1. grocery store receipts
Did you know that most grocery store receipts are loaded with BPA? According to a study that examined BPA exposure from handling receipts, "New tests show that simple handling of receipts can transfer as much bisphenol A (BPA) though skin as humans get exposed to from canned food. The tests also found BPA on paper money, hinting that BPA is easily coming off of receipts and onto other items." So, skip the receipt - and definitely don't place receipts in bags with food items, especially those you eat raw.


2. tap water
Could there be BPA in tap water? A 2009 tap water safety survey found exactly that: "These could be leaching out of [household] plastics, even plastic pipes [used in] the treatment process." Invest in a powerful water filter if you can, and avoid filtering systems made with plastic.


3. personal care products
"There are two solvents commonly used in cosmetics and personal care products: phthalates, and Bisphenol-A. These ingredients are often hidden, remaining undisclosed on product labels." -Toxic Beauty: How Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Endanger Your Health . . . And What You Can Do about It. And what about natural, organic beauty products? A little better, but still a contributor. Most are packaged in plastic, which can contaminate the product and be absorbed into the system through the skin. 


4. dental sealants
Don't get me started on this one. I just had dental work done a couple months ago. I go to a "green" dentist, but am not sure if there is BPA in the dental sealant that they use. 


So, what's the bottom line? BPA and phthalates are virtually everywhere, in every product that we use. Simply reducing food packaging will not reduce your BPA levels to 0. The good news? You can do something about each item on this list to eliminate it from your environment. I've started in on most of these and will be posting my solutions as my experiment continues.

What my shopping cart looks like without plastic. The Wild Planet tuna can claims to be BPA free. Taking a chance here... is it free of all plastics or just BPA? And of course the milk has a plastic top. You do what you can. The Afflia soap is in a paper box.

A glimpse of my produce bin in the fridge. I used cotton baskets from ikea as dividers - I don't want my produce touching the plastic of the bin if possible. My partner Shawn thinks this is crazy, but I like the way it looks anyway so I'm going with it. Everything has stayed crisp and fresh so far.

My bread storage solution. So far this works great! Actually, the bread is much nicer to eat than the cold bread from fridge, which is how we had stored our bread before. Notice the Kamut puffs. I did take them out of the plastic, but does it even make a difference? If food has been stored in plastic and you remove it from the plastic container is there any positive effect? Haven't been able to find out anything about this possibility.

My lovely all-glass refrigerator storage. I have to admit I love how clean and crisp everything looks. Glass just feels great, organic, clean. Most of these containers originally had plastic tops, but I went to a couple thrift stores and bought a bunch of random glass tops which you can always seem to find on the cheap. My favorite all-glass storage is Weck containers, but they are a bit pricey.

Week 1 - Challenges and Victories

One week into my experiment I've experienced a number of challenges. First of all, it is almost impossible to eliminate plastics from your food supply without significantly changing your eating habits. For instance: cheese. 99.9% of cheese is wrapped in plastic. The ones I did find weren't the type of cheese I needed. We eat quesadillas weekly over here and local chevre isn't the best option for that. One of the reasons I decided to start this blog was a lack of resources when googling "plastic free cheese". I did find two great posts from Plastic Free Life and No New Plastic which pretty much confirmed that I would have to buy a 12 pound wheel of cheese if I wanted it to be plastic-free, good luck finding cheese that was organic. Particularly bad news considering the fact that foods high in fat absorb the greatest amounts of BPA and other plastic-related chemicals. Here are some other items I have had no luck with finding plastic free replacements for:

Tortillas
Organic Salsa (why is it so hard to make fresh salsa that tastes right?)
Organic Crackers (yeah, I know... I can eat Wasa. sigh.)
Puffed Kamut (my toddler's staple snack, can't find in bulk)

So I guess it's pretty much goodbye to our weekly quesadillas, since all the ingredients are plastic wrapped. But! Here's the good news. I have had a number of victories this week with replacing many of our plastic wrapped foods for super fresh plastic free versions.

Why Plastic Sans?

This post begins my record of an experiment to eliminate most plastics from my family's food supply and direct skin contact. Why? Well, if you haven't read the Silent Spring Institute's new findings from their Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention, you may want to check it out. The results are striking. Over the course of 3 days, the families in their study were able to reduce their BPA and Phthalate levels by 65% just by switching to a fresh foods diet that avoids canned food and plastic food packaging.

Now, I've always been skeptical of plastic. I do believe that among many other toxic chemicals, the prevalence of plastics are a huge reason for a steady and significant rise in cancer rates. But previously, I had always thought that attempting to control the amount of plastics in my kitchen and environment was futile. I mean, how much impact could I possibly make by reducing a material that has become so ubiquitous in the course of daily life? Well, quite a bit it seems. Ever since reading the study I've felt I have no other choice but to start the gradual process of eliminating the plastics from our household.

I don't expect to have 100% success by any means. I'm sure some days will be more plastic-free than others. I feel that the important thing is to consider the role of plastics in my food and environment daily and make changes when I can.