Instead of fighting for BPA- why can't these companies manufacture shatterproof glass bottles instead!

If the glass bottles are coated on the outside- it will be safe for use (no BPA contamination in our system) and all of that plastic can also be put to use without causing any damage.

“Two Words: Bad Plastic” is reckless and misleading. It is one-sided and relies on biased opinions instead of the best research available.

Your article failed to mention the wealth of scientific evidence supporting the safety of consumer goods made with polycarbonate plastic, including baby bottles. Definitive studies and scientific reviews conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Harvard University, the National Toxicology Program, the European Food Safety Authority, the German Federal Institute for Risk Analysis, and the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology indicate polycarbonate plastic is safe.

Plastic is the material of choice for baby bottles because it is durable and withstands heat, allowing it to be sterilized. Certainly any parent who has ever dropped a baby bottle next to their infant can be grateful it didn’t shatter.

It is extremely frustrating to see the spread of inaccurate information. Articles such as this create fear instead of educating parents. Parents have many worries. Plastic in baby bottles should not be among them.

Robert Waller

President

Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association

In the article “Two words: Bad Plastics” by Elizabeth Grossman, Dr. Hugh Taylor makes a misleading statement by saying, “…, and use glass instead of plastic water bottles.” Virtually all single serve plastic water bottles are made from PET plastic resin. Bisphenol A is not used in the manufacture of PET plastic. I direct you the frequently asked questions section of the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) website www.napcor.com for a discussion on Bisphenol A and other urban legend relating to the PET container.

I am the Executive Director of NAPCOR.

Dennis Sabourin

August 8, 2007

Interesting article and here's my two cents' worth. I am a female scientist and I carry out experiments with lab animals. The role of science is not only to increase the depth of our knowledge but is also for the betterment of humankind (in terms of health- prevention and cure). True the studies on rodents may not hold water when it comes to humans, but hey, I'm not willing to be a guinea pig and muck around with my hormones and wait to find out if BPA affects me or my future generation. Of course, if YOU want to test that hypothesis, the next generation will thank you but probably not the ones related to you.

The key to it all is "use common sense...everything in moderation." Stop reading the scare stories and do yourself and the kid a favor.

I'm tired of reading about everything that's bad for me during pregnancy.

So I've given up my favorite cheeses. I gave up sushi and cooked fish. I gave up lunchmeats and sausages. I gave up milk that wasn't organic.

I'm drinking the prescribed 10-12 glasses a day to ward off my chances of pre-term labor, and now I'm supposed to give up the methods of transporting this incredible quantity of water?

Now, I'm no press-hatin' redneck, however if the press is to believed, there is NOTHING safe to consume during pregnancy.

OK, we are all going to die, probably younger than we could because of all the crap we are exposed to but older than if we were born 100 years ago. I give up and I am just going to get on with things until I kick the bucket.

DES was the world's first synthetic estrogen. It wreaked havoc on the fetuses exposed to it. Effects include cancer; infertility; abnormal reproductive organs; high-risk pregnancies; and autoimmune disorders. Check out www.desaction.org. for more details. I am ALARMED that a repeat is upon us. People can pretend that bisphenol A isn't bad news...but guess what? It is.

This paper should be read in its entirety. The accumulation of assaults on health are awesome:

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193

FEATURE

Open Access Everything we publish is freely available online throughout the world, for you to read, download, copy, distribute, and use (with attribution) any way you wish. No permission required. Read a detailed definition of open access.

The Toxic Origins of Disease

Liza Gross

Citation: Gross L (2007) The Toxic Origins of Disease. PLoS Biol 5(7): e193 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050193

Published: June 26, 2007

Copyright: © 2007 Liza Gross. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Liza Gross is a science writer with PLoS. E-mail: lgross@plos.org

Researchers say endocrine-disrupting chemicals can permanently harm the developing organism and may even promote obesity. But the chemical industry doesn't want you to believe them.......

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6890106663412840646

I'm afraid that the Centers for Disease Control has given several states, including New York, oral health grants for them to reach Healthy People 2010 goals which includes having more children with sealants on their teeth. I fear dentists will push the sealants in order to qualify for future grants rather than considering how the plastic sealants will affect the health of the children.

If there is a correlation between the use of this chemical and the explosion of childhood obesity that we see in contemporary society.

The editors clearly are not capable of "redstarring" these letters (marshall, melthough? and not Trevor Butterfield?). You chicken littles need to calm down. The chemical industry is not out to get you. There are idiots on both sides (global warming, anyone?). However, there actually are people in the chemical industry that have been working with toxicologists for years that are trying to do good science relating to these issues (most of you probably don't believe that, I'm sure). Mr. Butterfield is so right about the complexity of this issue. Okay, I'm done.

P.S. Here a new scare for you that will come up in the future: PET (polyethylene terephthalate) leaches phthalates. How much? How harmful? Let's let you guys decide-its all bad! You are the same people who buy "chemical free" cheese at the organic foods joint. It would have to be antimatter to be chemical free, people. Okay I wasn't done.