Not all plastics are evil...

With all the news coming out on plastics, it can make you feel like an awful parent. Sippy cups, kids' tableware, etc are all PLASTIC. Plastic is not evil mind you, but most of the world doesn't know the good from the bad (I know I don't) and we have to trust that companies are being honest with us. So it's sad to find out that some of them aren't and they're using not-so-good things to make their products with. That's what the BPA (a synthetic hormone) screams have been about because it has been recently linked to uterine & prostate cancers, premature development, as well as a number of other things. (BPA is commonly used in the indestructible water bottles that are out there. i.e., If you have an old Nalgene bottle - it's got BPA in it. Nalgene as recently started making their new bottles BPA-free.)

Well, I'm here to tell you that you can breathe a little easier if you were like me and almost not really wanting to know if your child's sippy cup was going to endanger their life later on. I guess I thought that if I just didn't acknowledge it, it would go away. Sorry, but it's true. It has nothing to do with how much I love my kids. but you know how as parents you can feel sometimes like you're doing everything wrong. This was just one more thing to add to the plate. Uuuggghhh!

SO! All of that to say that there was a GREAT article in Saturday's Bham news about the different kinds of plastics and which ones were safe and which ones weren't. There's an easy way to tell for most of what you're concerned about. Look for the recycle symbol on the bottom of your sippy cup or plastic water bottle or storage container, etc. If it has the number "7" on it - CHUNK IT. Sometimes seven is not a perfect number, I guess. Seven is the one with the BPA in it and you really want to avoid that. Up until about 15 minutes ago, we had 6 fantastic water bottles (that I used ALL the time). I checked them out this morning and -you guessed - "7" was on the bottom. I promptly threw them in the trash more annoyed that some company thought it was ok to use BPA than I was sad to lose them.

Just wanted to rest your minds. Not all plastic is evil. :) Just the ones with number "7".

P.S. If there's a way to scan the article and post it I will. (I just don't know if I will show up big enough on the blog.) If not, send me your email and I know I'll be able to send it to you later this week. It goes through numbers 1-7 in the recycle codes.