Just few days after I published Bottle Feeding Tips, A dozen of the leading environmental groups in the country published the results of a study which says the vast majority of plastic baby bottles might pose a significant health risk. They contain bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical linked to obesity, cancer and other conditions in animal experiments.

The 20-page study, “Baby’s Toxic Bottle” came from the University of Missouri, with funding from environmental groups. Today, many of those groups demand that manufacturers stop using BPA in baby bottles and other food containers.

It’s a parent’s nightmare. But before you panic, consider this: U.S. and E.U. health and environment authorities still stand behind polycarbonate plastic, putting the safe level of daily bisphenol A exposure at more than 25 times the levels found in baby bottles. (The Canadian agency, Health Canada, is currently reviewing its bisphenol A policy; conclusions are due in May.)

So who’s right?

Opponents of bisphenol A say official safety figures are far too high, given what the chemical, which mimics the hormone estrogen in the body, does in animals. In the lab, even low exposure levels — adjusted for body weight — have been linked to a variety of sex-hormone-imbalance effects, including breast and prostate cancer, early puberty, miscarriage, low sperm count, and immune-system changes.

Critics also claim that in developing infants, such sex-hormone effects may come into play at exposure levels far below what health authorities have deemed safe for adults. “The reproductive system is developing, the brain is developing, the immune system is developing,” David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, told a news conference Thursday on behalf of the environmental agencies. Knowing that, he said, it is “absolutely obscene” to expose infants to the compound. Legislation has been proposed in several U.S. states to limit or ban the use bisphenol A. And a handful of stores, including Whole Foods and Patagonia, have yanked polycarbonate bottles from their shelves.

Still, the scientific establishment disagrees. In a 2006 summary explaining its review of bisphenol A safety, the European Food Safety Authority argued that animal trials of the chemical simply don’t tell us very much about humans. For one thing, when humans ingest the compound, it’s quickly excreted through the urine; when rats and mice eat it, it’s released into the bloodstream and remains in the body much longer — with much more time to throw off the body’s sex-hormone balance, causing nasty effects.

Though the study is still controversial, recent toy and food recalls have left many Americans on edge. Parents looking to steer clear of plastic-free baby bottles may want to consult resources that help them avoid the potentially dangerous chemicals. They are are playing it safe with glass bottles.

Well, it’s your decide now. Will you change to glass bottles ?

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