The ban on phthalates for one. The chemical and toxin labeling law (hence all those “May Cause Cancer in the State of California” labels you see all over cheap goods from China). And the higher fuel efficiency standards, which have considerably reduced smog. Then, they were poised to ban BPA (bisphenol A and PFOA (a chemical in food wrapping). No dice.

What happened? In a close vote, the California legisture voted not to ban BPA and PFOA.

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Top Ten Eco-Friendly Baby Shower Gifts

1. Moby Wrap Baby Carrier: This wrap is perfect for carrying newborns. It is the most comfortable baby wearing apparatus, and it keeps the baby snugly held against your body and protected from curious strangers and their germs. It is made from a large piece of stretch cotton and can be used as a blanket as well as a wrap. It is available in an organic cotton material too.
2. California Baby Shampoo and Bodywash: This all natural, SLS-free baby soap is perfect for a newborn’s first bath. It is so gentle and safe, and it will not irritate eczema and cradle crap.

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Astonishingly, 77 percent of mothers in the US breastfeed their newborn babies. I would have suspected the number was far lower, due to the intolerance of public breastfeeding that still exists in some parts of the country, and I am partially correct. 77 percent of mothers breastfed their babies in the first month of life, according to a survey results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC). This is up from 60 percent in 1994. “The report shows that the initiation of breast-feeding is at an all-time high,” said Karen Hunter of the CDC.

Breastfeeding rates remain unchanged for children six months of age. According to the New York Times:

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that mothers breast-feed exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life and continue breast-feeding with baby food as a supplement until at least the child’s first birthday.

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Family Physicians also recommend six months of exclusive breast-feeding but suggest supplemented breast-feeding until the child is at least 2.

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There is strong evidence to suggest that bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to make polycarbonate plastic, can leach into the baby’s drink and mimic estrogen, which in turn can disrupt a baby’s developing endocrine system. Just last week, the FDA decided to (finally) re-evaluate their position on whether or not BPA is safe (though they weakly stopped short of recommending people stop using plastic bottles made with BPA). Canada just recently proposed designating BPA a toxic substance, banning products made with BPA altogether.

Enter Adiri baby bottles, which have received several design awards lately, as well as high praise of mothers everywhere. “We are enjoying our popularity with moms as well as with the medical community,” said Sarah Eisner, Adiri’s Director of Sales and Marketing. “We started out with safe materials. From there we introduced a revolutionary new breast-like design that is wowing folks across the country.”

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BPA has been in the news recently; a New York Times article discusses Canada’s proposed ban, and parents have become more and more aware of the adverse effects of using baby bottles, pacifiers and soft rubber toys with their babies. But, the danger of synthetic estrogen can effect us all. So what can you do to avoid this toxin and provide a safe home for your family.?

Dr. Joesph Mercola, a well known osteopathic physician, author and natural health advocate has a few recommendations:

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Beans and Rice

In a medium sized saucepan, combine:

• 1 cup brown rice
  
• 1 1/2 cups water
  
• 1 can of beans (pinto, black, kidney, mixed, etc.)
• 2 chopped cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 chopped carrot

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One such new company is NewBornMom, which features many cute, eco-friendly goods, as well as 100% eco-friendly gift wrap! Plus, they are offering our readers 10% off all purchases until March 31, 2008 (promo code: ecoplay).

NewBornMom was founded by Aliette Fenton-Sharp and Fernanda Pinzon, both new moms. After having difficulty finding elegant, trendy and environmentally safe essentials for their newborn daughters, they founded the store. This online store features goods meticulously selected by Aliette and Fernanda that they would use with their own babies.

The company supports Fair Labor Trade regulations, and every item offered is made in proper working environments. NewBornMom uses only recycled office, shipping and gift-wrap supplies; “we pride-ourselves in being a relatively paper-free company as most of our business is conducted via e-mail”, states Aliette.

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MC sent me this link, as a follow up to my post “Breastfeeding Reduces Anxiety in Children“. Apparently, breastfeeding creates anxiety in some mothers, thus they have chosen to feed their infants exclusively pumped breastmilk. Actually, I know of two women who have done this, and I applaud their commitment to giving their infants the best possible nutrition from the start.

One such mother, that has chosen to exclusively pump for her daughter, is Carrie Mehi, a lawyer from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Carrie explains her psychological struggle with breastfeeeding:

This is a part of my body that’s always been reserved for sexual activity, and I sort of assumed my brain would make whatever necessary adjustments it had to do to make [breastfeeding] not a completely creepy experience for me. I really don’t think we tried breastfeeding after the first day we left the hospital. I was not interested in having my sweet baby crying at my breast for one more minute. I just wanted her fed. [Breastfeeding] was an unpleasant sensation to me, and I thought, you know what, if I’m flinching, I might as well flinch to a machine instead of to my girl.

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Obviously, breastfed babies are happiest and healthiest; however, sometimes families have to use infant formulas to nourish their young ones. A new report issued by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) makes recommendations for feeding babies safely and avoiding Bisphenol-A (BPA). BPA is a hormone disruptor that can harm brain development and may affect behavior. Many families have switched to BPA-free bottles and sippy cups; however, infant formula containers pose a higher risk to children than baby bottles when it comes to BPA leaching.

Back in October, I wrote about the risk of BPA leaching into food and infant formula stored in tin/steel cans. Steel cans are lined with plastic containing BPA to prevent contamination from the can to the food/formula. EWG found that,

1 out of every 16 infants fed ready-to-eat liquid formula are exposed to BPA at doses exceeding those that caused increased aggression and significant changes in testosterone levels in laboratory animals.

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Bloggers Jeremiah and Jennifer McNichols have completed the most thorough and comprehensive directory of BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups. Consisting of 25 individual posts, the Z Report recommends “Top Picks”, “Promising Entrants”, “Proceed with Caution”, and “Brands to Avoid.” There are individual posts for each company, as well. As Jeremiah explains, “The chart assesses the companies overall - for example, we are recommending avoiding companies that DO have a few BPA-free items, because their policies are inconsistent, they are strongly pro-polycarbonate, or they do not offer a non-polycarbonate bottle (even though they may have non-BPA sippys). We tried to give a broad picture of which companies are worth doing business with based on their BPA stance, and then have the company-specific pages to provide per-product information. All Top Pick companies make only BPA-free products.” Z Recs’ goal is to have all companies disclose on their labels exactly what kinds of plastics are used on products that come into contact with children’s mouths. This sure would help consumers make wise decisions in the store, but for now, visiting The Z Report: A Directory of Bisphenol-A In Baby Bottles and Sippy Cups will help parents make sense of BPA in children’s products.

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Four years ago, before America was awash in greenwashing, Mothering Magazine featured a great article title "No More Junk Toys: Rethinking Children’s Gifts" by Judith Rubin. Rubin writes,

Like junk food, junk toys can be fun but are devoid of nutrition. Buying them requires little forethought. They are excessively commercial, and are often linked to cross-marketing schemes. They excite children at first, but that initial flicker doesn’t endure. Also like junk food, junk toys have hidden environmental and social costs for which the consumers pay.

The environmental and social costs of junk toys are huge! Plastic toys are often made in sweatshops, sometimes by children themselves, and many of them send the wrong kind of messages to children. For example, Bratz Dolls sexualize young girls, as well as have unfair labor practices, and Barbie’s proportions are unrealistic. According to Empoweredparents.com,

If she were alive, Barbie would be a woman standing 7 feet tall with a waistline of 18 inches and a bustling of 38-40. In fact, she would need to walk on all fours just to support her peculiar proportions. Yet media advertising, television and Hollywood would reinforce her message, influencing what would become the American ideal of beauty.

Besides the materials and energy used in the production of junk toys, these plastic toys end up in landfills and oceans. Life Magazine reported that there is a swath of plastic garbage twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean. Life reports, "Except for the small amount that has been incinerated — and it’s a very small amount — every bit of plastic made still exists."

The safety of toys made in China has been in question lately with the recent rave of recalls. Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law a ban on toys containing phthalates. The Governator said, "These chemicals threaten the health and safety of our children at critical stages of their development." Phthalates have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. This follows a ban last year in San Francisco on toys containing BPA and certain levels of phthalates. Despite such legal actions, junk toys still dominate the toy shelves.

How can you tell a junk toy from a good toy? Field naturalist Alicia Daniel offers the following list of questions to ask when selecting toys:

1. Will this toy eventually turn into dirt-i.e., could I compost it? Stones, snowmen, driftwood, and daisies-they will be gone, and we will be gone, and life goes on.
2. Do I know who made this toy? This question leads us to search for the hidden folk artist in each of us.
3. Is this toy beautiful? Have human hands bestowed an awkward grace, a uniqueness lacking in toys cranked out effortlessly by machine?
4. Will this toy capture a child’s imagination?

Every year, I send my family a reminder that we do not want any plastic toys or clothes made from synthetic fibers. I wish I could say that they always followed our wishes, but somehow, the message flies out the window when they see some "adorable" plastic thing they think my children can’t live without. My husband has changed the motto to "No More Toys" this year, but the grandparents have already scoffed at the idea. Perhaps I should try sending my family Alicia Daniel’s list to help them make appropriate gift selections. If we are going to tell our children to reduce, reuse, recycle, shouldn’t our holiday gift giving and receiving reflect this practice?

According to EcoMall, "Breastfeeding is probably the most overlooked means of contributing to the health of our planet" and parentingweb states, "Breastmilk is actually the most ecological food available to humans." Wow, those are pretty strong statements. Mother’s milk is completely natural (minus the toxins present from environmental contaminants), is produced without using resources (except for the resources used to produce the food the mother eats), and it creates no pollution. Breast milk comes from the mother’s body and bottles are not required, unless a mother is pumping because of work schedules, etc. There is never any waste with breast milk, as healthy mothers produce the right amount of milk a child needs based on the principle of supply and demand.

In contrast, the production and packaging of infant formulas uses natural resources and takes up landfill space, all of which contribute to climate change. According to Dia Michels, author of Mother Nature Loves Breastmilk, "If every child in America were bottle-fed, almost 86,000 tons of tin would be needed to produce 550 million cans for one year’s worth of formula." Furthermore, these tin cans can leach BPA into the formula. The Environmental Working Group tested infant formula and found, "For 1 in 10 cans of all food tested, and 1 in 3 cans of infant formula, a single serving contained enough BPA to expose a woman or infant to BPA levels more than 200 times the government’s traditional safe level of exposure for industrial chemicals."

Most infant formulas are dairy or soy-based. The dairy business uses tremendous amounts of resources and land, as well as creates pollution. Cow flatulence produces 100 million tons of methane every year, approximately 20% of the earth’s total emissions. Chemical fertilizers used to grow feed pollute soil and ground water. Deforestation occurs to create grazing land for cows. Soy-based formulas aren’t much better. Soybeans require high amounts of fertilizers and water, as well as are responsible for deforestation for cropland in countries like Brazil.

Preparing infant formula uses water and energy. Bottles must be sterilized and formulas must be heated to the proper temperature. Breastmilk comes from the mother’s body safe for consumption already at the perfect temperature with the perfect mix of nutritients for the child. In contrast, there have been about two dozen recalls of infant formula for health and safety issues, including seven recalls that were classified as potentially "life threatening."

It is true that some breastfeeding women use plastic baby bottles; however, typically formula fed babies use far more plastic bottles than their breastfed counterparts. The production of such bottles uses vast quantities of energy and natural resources, as well as contributes to pollution. Plastic baby bottles are made from nonrenewable petroleum resources and are part of the larger plastic industry. According to the Green Guide, "Toxic releases from the plastics industry represent 7% of the 5.7 billion pounds of toxic chemicals released or transferred by all manufacturers each year." Furthermore, plastic feeding bottles, nipples, and pacifiers in our landfills can take 200 to 450 years to break down. Your child’s baby bottle will outlive your child!

There is also the issue of a breastfed versus formula-fed baby’s excrement and the environment. If you have ever changed a diaper, especially a cloth diaper, you know the difference! Breastfed baby’s waste is much easier to wash from a cloth diaper, as well as the odor is less offensive. When considering the energy and water involved in washing cloth diapers, breast is definitely best!

There is overwhelming evidence that breastfeeding benefits children, in fact the American Academy of Pediatrics urges mothers to breastfeed for at least a year and beyond, "for as long as mutually desired." For my children, this was about two and half years. Not only does breastfeeding benefit children and mothers, but the environment wins as well. As Mothering Magazine states, "Breastfeeding is not just a lifestyle choice; it is a health issue for mother and infant, a social issue, and an environmental issue…Because of the far-reaching positive ecological, health, and social impact breastfeeding can make on our planet, it is imperative for anyone interested in protecting our children and our environment to do whatever possible to support, protect, and promote breastfeeding." Celebrate Breast Fest today and view The Great Breast Fest Montage!

Decisions are often made that based on profit, rather than protecting children's health. In the 1990s, childhood vaccinations contained a mercury-based preservative called thiomersal. Children receiving multiple thiomersal vaccines exceeded the federal guidelines for a single dose of mercury. Doctors and parents were outraged, and the consequences of exposure to thiomersal (such as a rise in Autism, ADD) have been debated. Presently, childhood vaccines in this country do not contain this dangerous preservative, but drug companies continue to sell thimersol vaccines to third world countries.

Recent news about the risks of Bisphenol-A (BPA) in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups have parents scrambling to buy alternatives. BPA is a hormone disrupting toxin known to cause developmental, neural, and reproductive harm. BPA free plastic bottles and glass baby bottles offer the best solution; however, don't be surprised if you find these items on backorder from merchants. In addition, Kleen Kanteen stainless steel sippy cups offer a safe alternative.

Although lead naturally occurs in the earth's crust, it highly toxic to humans. According to the CDC, "Nearly half a million children living in the United States have blood lead levels high enough to cause irreversible damage to their health." Lead has been removed from our gasoline, paints, etc., yet somehow this harmful substance is present in many children's products. The recent recall of bibs sold by Wal-mart, because they contained up to 16 times the legal limit for lead in paint, further begs the question: Are our children laboratory rats?

A recent study of over 1.5 million children found that babies conceived in the summer, when pesticide use is at its peak, are less intelligent than their peers. The first few months in utero are critical for brain development. According to Science Daily, "Exposure to pesticides and nitrates can alter the hormonal milieu of the pregnant mother and the developing fetal brain," said Dr. Winchester. "While our findings do not represent absolute proof that pesticides and nitrates contribute to lower ISTEP scores, they strongly support such a hypothesis."

If you have ever driven behind a diesel school bus, you know the fumes are noxious. These fumes can be even worse inside the school bus, where children ride, and have been linked to asthma and lung cancer. Yet, $1 billion pledged by Congress in 2005 to reduce school bus emissions has not been delivered. The alternative: let's run school buses on biodiesel or invest in hybrid school buses.

All children deserve green alternatives. They should not be laboratory rats sacrificed for corporate profit and greed!

On March 9th, it was brought to my attention that a website sponsored by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) made mention that SIGG bottles contain plastic liners with bisphenol A (BPA).

I can assure you that SIGG bottles are absolutely not made with a plastic liner and are in fact lined with a proprietary non-toxic, water-based resin which has been refined over decades of study and is extremely safe & stable.

Based on the confidence we have in our product backed by numerous laboratory studies, we questioned the EWG and requested that they provide us with the testing they have conducted on SIGG – or alternatively to remove the “SIGG” mention from their website if they have not tested SIGG. Within 24 hours of this request, the EWG removed SIGG’s name from their report.

Unfortunately, in the meantime this message was picked up by a few other websites, one of those being The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and their newsletter Organic Bytes. When we questioned the OCA on their mention of SIGG, this is the emailed response we received:

“We made a mistake. Sigg bottles do not contain BPAs… it was read wrong and there was confusion. Apologies about this.” - Member Services, OCA

As you may know, the BPA issues surrounding Lexan plastic bottles (polycarbonate #7) involve the migration of chemicals from the plastic into the contents of the bottles. On the other hand, SIGG bottles have been thoroughly tested in Europe to ensure 0% leaching of any substance - no trace of BPA, BPB or any phthalates.

“According to the results of our evaluation, use of a SIGG bottle does not add to the beverage any particles and/or components which are innocuous to human health.” – Dr. Ulrich Nehring, European Institute Nehring

We understand the controversy and concern surrounding BPA leaching from plastic water bottles and can assure you that SIGG bottles are leach-free and 100% safe. We are upset about the misinformation which has circulated and are working feverishly to clear the good name of SIGG.

Thank you for your continued support and trust in SIGG.

Steve Wasik
President
SIGG USA

My daughter took macaroni and cheese with kale for lunch in her Kapsule Vacuum Jar. She found it very easy to use and wants to take soup in it next. The Kapsule Vacuum Jar did make her lunch bag heavier, but that is a minimal trade off for food safety. Why pack your child a healthy, organic lunch, just to have the meal tainted by plastic. ReusableBags.com offers great alternatives to plastic food containers. Just type in “stainless steel vacuum jar” in the search box at ReusableBags.com to find this great product.