One of the things about having a baby in my life after a long time
without one is that a sense of awe and delight is often accompanied by
an awareness of potential disaster even more acute than when I was the
mom instead of the grandma. I have long practice worrying about the
bad things that might happen, both the freakish and ordinary. And I
have the experience of accrued information and improved knowledge about
environmental issues that were only vague notions thirty years ago.
Recently
I have been worrying about plastic. Not just the plastic-or-paper we
all confront when we shop in stores, but the ubiquity of plastic in my
life and in the baby’s.
For example: Baby’s mother breastfed
fully for the first six months, but when she went back to work she
expressed milk to leave with the daycare provider – milk that was saved
in plastic liners or bottles. And the “rubber” nipple of the bottles
were also made of plastic. The diaper bag and cooler that carried the
nourishing breastmilk were lined with plastic. The colorful mobile
that hung above the crib as coated with plastic polymer paint – “safe”
“food grade” plastic, similar to what those cute sippy cups are made
from.
Most of the sorting blocks and trucks and pushtoys that
were once-upon-a-time wood or metal – and, in those days, too often
coated with lead-bearing paints – now are either made of or coated with
plastics of one formulation or another. And all of this plastic has
molecules that migrate into us – and into Baby. When we eat ice cream
or mic a veggie tv dinner, wrap our organic vegetables, use a non-stick
plan – well, you get it: plastic. Even the cheap liquor a tired parent
might put in a cocktail made with organic juice may come in plastic
bottles. Even the pipes bringing water to your faucet may be plastic –
and studies show that molecules of these polymerized products are in
95% of Americans and 80% of the rest of the world’s population.
Including our Baby.
So
what to do. Well, the pediatrician says to freeze bagels for teething
and that a dirty carrot is better (well, sort of dirty) than a plastic
chew toy. Cotton dolls and animals rather than those made of plastic
or polyester. Glass bottled juices and water instead of those in
plastic bottles hardened with the monomer Bisphenol-A (PBA).
But
it gets tougher yet: various types of plastic - polycarbonate (PC),
polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), high-density
polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl
chloride (PVC or vinyl), and others all migrate to some degree. And
they are in contact lenses, syringes, baby bottles, PVC pipes,
containers for everything (even the inside or beverage and food cans).
And
when old enough, Baby’s mother hast to decide whether the dental
products that improved her orthodontics and sealed her molars are going
to similarly “protect” Baby.
So – plastics. Not something you
immediately think of when you think of grandparenting. But we need to
think about it, now. Once plastic aware, we can look for smarter,
greener options. People smart enough to invent plastics are smart
enough to replace them with something better. If not for ourselves or
our own children – then for theirs.
For more information about the problematics of PBA, PC, PVC and other such plastics, try these websites and links:
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/html/content/pvc1.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=379624&in_page_id=1798
http://www.watoxics.org/pressroom/press-releases/pr-2005-12-07
http://www.rightsforamerica.com/wordpress/?cat=7