We all touch it and breathe it in crawling babies, who put everything in their mouths, may absorb even more.īut our highest exposure comes from our daily diet, reports the National Toxicology Program. The chemical has also been found in household dust, where it settles as plastic products break down and scatter microscopic particles. And when these containers and cans and bottles and CD cases end up in landfills, BPA can leach into rivers and streams, possibly reentering our homes - and bodies - through tap water. Used in the plastic-like coating that lines food and beverage cans, BPA helps buffer the contents from cans' corrosive metals and extends the products' shelf lives. Not only is it used to make hard-plastic food containers and baby bottles, but it's also found in eyeglass lenses, compact discs, electronics, and a slew of other common, everyday items. Many hadn't heard of bisphenol A before it grabbed the headlines earlier this year, but the chemical has been in our lives for decades. Both the tests and the research point to the smartest ways to keep our families safe. But a review of additional recent research yielded other unsettling questions, particularly about hormonally related ills. And if they're not, we'd like to stop hyperventilating. If the chemicals are getting into food, we need to understand what that means for our health. That's why the Good Housekeeping Institute undertook testing of widely available storage containers, bags, wraps, frozen-entrée trays and slow-cooker liners to see if these chemicals were, in fact, migrating into food - a kind of real-world investigation that would help moms decide just how cautious they need to be. But we need more definitive answers than the authorities have been giving us.

Most of us aren't eager to sacrifice the ease and cleanliness of plastic. Or maybe just in the kitchen? The biggest worry has been over BPA and phthalates getting into food and drinks (and into toys small children chew on). It's enough to make a mom toss up her hands - and toss out all the plastic in the house. The panel issued the reassuring statement that it had 'minimal concern' about most human health effects from BPA, though it acknowledged ' some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposure.' But after it was reported that a consulting group used by the panel had ties to the industry, NTP scientists revised these findings, raising the level of concern. In 2007, an expert panel was commissioned by the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which evaluates chemicals for safety. But while legislators have been scurrying to pass protective laws, the federal agencies entrusted with overseeing our health have been slow to respond - and maddeningly vague when they do.

California, Washington State, and Vermont, for example, have limited the allowable amount of phthalates in children's products, and Congress added a partial phthalate ban to its new consumer-protection law, passed in August. Many retailers have decided to stop selling toys and other kids' products with BPA and phthalates, and a growing list of companies, including P&G and Nike, have been taking phthalates out of everything from beauty products to sneakers. Quickly, as the media coverage intensified, manufacturers and retailers took up the charge: Last spring, just when I was packing my kids' lunches with Nalgene water bottles, the company announced it was phasing out bottles made with BPA. First, reports quoted scientists and environmental groups saying that the same containers and wraps that have made life so convenient may contain chemicals that can pose dangers to health: bisphenol A (BPA), which, among its many roles, is used to make a type of hard plastic, and certain phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates), a wide range of chemicals that, among their many uses, soften plastic. So I've grown increasingly alarmed over news stories on plastics in recent months. I sometimes buy food and drinks in plastic containers, I've been known to chop on a plastic cutting board, and I carry water around in a plastic bottle. In the fridge, there's usually a collection of leftovers - last night's lasagna, some barbecued chicken the kids didn't finish - in dishes covered with plastic wrap, ready to eat after a zap in the microwave. I have cans of beans and tomato paste on my pantry shelves. My kitchen is probably similar to yours - filled with products that help me get dinner on the table fast.

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