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 In a city as environmentally aware as Madison, many people pride themselves on toting reusable hard plastic bottles for their drinking water, being careful to fill them at drinking fountains and faucets, instead of buying bottled water and filling garbage cans with the containers.
But some science is now telling us that we may have been inadvertently poisoning ourselves while trying to do the green thing.
The recent release of two conflicting reports on a potentially harmful chemical in the hard plastic -- bisphenol A, or BPA -- has brought the issue to the headlines. Dozens of studies over the years have shown that the chemical, in use since the 1930s, can damage the reproductive systems of rats, mice and other laboratory animals. In a report issued late last year, a panel of 38 scientists convened by the National Institutes of Health concluded after an extensive review of the research that humans exposed to the chemical are likely having the same kinds of problems that have turned up in the laboratory animals.
But another smaller federal panel of about a dozen scientists, this one organized by the National Toxicology Program, concluded that BPA presents "some concern" for developing reproductive systems in fetuses, babies and children. But the group also said that the overall health risk from the chemical to the general public is "negligible."
"You can always find a study that says there's no harm, or it hasn't been proven. But why risk it?"
Worried parents
None of this makes much difference to parents worried about hard plastic baby bottles and others in Madison who worry about the plastic containers. Some parents have either stopped using the plastic bottles or are considering it, making glass baby bottles sought-after items.
"Lots of moms are talking about it," said Christine Kern Steffen, who teaches yoga to pregnant women and mothers of newborns. "That one is definitely a hot issue."
At Happy Bambino, 2045 Atwood Ave., customer concerns have increased since last summer, when a parent-run national Web site raised the alarm and recommended glass bottles and plastic bottles free of BPA.
"We really cannot keep them on the shelves," said Lea Wolf, co-owner of Happy Bambino. "We're constantly selling out of them."
At Satara, a home and baby store at 5621 Odana Road, co-owner Sue Brown just ordered her first shipment of glass and non-BPA bottles to add to her inventory of organic bedding, clothing and other items.
Parents are doing a lot of reading, she said, and the arrival of a new baby intensifies concerns about household safety.
"There's just a lot more awareness," she said. "You can always find a study that says there's no harm, or it hasn't been proven. But why risk it?"
One mother considering a switch to glass bottles is Kari Oberloh, whose son, Nolan, 8 months, had to switch from breast milk to formula when he was 3 months old. He has dairy and soy allergies, but is thriving on the organic baby food she makes for him.
After just buying expensive plastic bottles, which she never heats, she wants to do some cost comparisons with glass bottles.
She gave up her own plastic water bottle in favor of a stainless steel container and is thinking hard about plastics in general.
"I am so incredibly torn over this," she said. "It's really hard."
Two outdoor equipment businesses in Madison, Fontana Sports Specialties and Recreational Equipment Inc., report increased customer demand for stainless steel and ceramic-lined aluminum water containers. A third, Gander Mountain, has heard nothing from customers on the issue.
At Fontana, president John Hutchinson said, "We're definitely seeing people picking up aluminum and stainless steel bottles," even though they're more expensive than plastic.
A one-quart Nalgene bottle sells for $9 or $10, he said, while an aluminum bottle about half that size costs $15 to $17. A one-quart stainless steel bottle sells for $24.
Hutchinson said Fontana even stocks a $20 stainless steel sippy cup for toddlers in response to customer requests.
Safety controversy
How can anyone ever be certain about the safety of the hard plastic bottles?
Steven G. Hentges is executive director of the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group with the American Chemistry Council, an industry organization. He said the issue has become political. He charged, for example, that the only reason the issue has made headlines is because of environmentalists.
"Environmental groups have been drumming up interest," Hentges said.
He added he believes the science is as conclusive as it may ever get -- that BPA has been recognized as safe for use by numerous government bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.K. Food Standards Agency, the European Food Safety Authority, and the Japanese Ministry for Health, Labor and Welfare as well as other regulatory agencies around the world.
But others charge that industry has manipulated the science. One outspoken critic of the chemical industry on the issue is Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri. He served on the 38-member National Institutes of Health panel. He said there is a stark difference in the outcomes of BPA research funded by the government and research funded by industry.
In an analysis of BPA studies, vom Saal found that of the 130 low-dose studies of BPA published as of summer 2005, 119 were funded by governments and 11 by industry. While 92 percent of the government-funded studies reported adverse effects, vom Saal reported, none of the industry studies did.
Concern is also tied to the prevalence of the hard plastic in everyday life today. Just about everybody is exposed daily to BPA. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published biomonitoring data on BPA from a large-scale study that is representative of the U.S. population.
In the analysis, a total of 2,517 urine samples from people 6-85 years of age were analyzed for BPA. The chemical was detected in 92.6 percent of the samples.
The prevalence of the chemical combined with the uncertain science is enough for Madison resident Robin Nathan who lives on the near West Side of the city and has two children, Sarah, 7, and Ariana, 8 months. To her, it makes sense that heating plastic containers could cause chemicals to leach out into food or drink. She uses very few bottles for her baby, and never heats them or puts them in the dishwasher.
Nathan just bought Sigg stainless steel water bottles for the whole family.
"We already place a high priority on what we put into our bodies," Nathan said. "Is it worth it? Who knows? We err on that side."
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