Foogo, plastic bottles and bamboo

I have been getting a lot of emails these days asking me what I know about plastics. Maybe because we use as little plastic as we can, or make sure the one's we do use are BPA free. Anyways I am no expert but here is what I can tell you about plastic:

Canada has banned the use and sale of plastic bottles that contain B.P.A. and polycarbonate in infant bottles. (here's an article) Due to the high toxicity and their ability to jack up (you can quote me on that) hormone's in animal testing.

Plastic cannot maintain its integrity... at all. It is never safe to put your plastics in the microwave (even if they say micro safe), or dish washer (even if they say top rack safe). The high heats break down their make-up and dumps (or you might see the word's "outgas" and "leach") the chemicals into the containers contents.

If you look at the bottom of your plastic container, number's 1-2-3-4-5 are "supposed" to be save, chuck the rest.

Health Observatory (download here) has a Pdf that can be read and is a great guide for what is safe and what is not.

Here's my deal, call me paranoid: we like to experiment here in the USA until we find out after the fact that our experimentation has backfired on us... or killed us. Lets take maternal health for example. You know like back when they used to take x-rays on pregnant women to check their pelvis and then... oh crap its giving babies cancer. So back to the plastics, yes there is not any conclusive evidence that we are getting enough toxicity though our plastic water bottle, or that our babies are going to be brain damaged by boiling that plastic evenflo, but if its making rats have infertility issues I'm not sticking around to let my baby grow up to find out she has issues with infertility as well. We are also seeing rates of cancers that were once very rare on the rise, especially in organs and systems that flush toxins out of our bodies.

We are exposed to more chemicals than ever before, they cannot be eliminated from our lives or diets, but why not at least give it a try. Besides all plastic is made out of some form of petroleum, we Americans love our oil... why not give the ol' fossil fuel god a break and try out some glass or metal for once.

So that leads me to say we just bought the Thermos Foogo which I'm totally excited about. We got the Straw Bottle because its toddler safe/proof and also bigger kids will still use it because its a straw not a sippy cup. They do have the sippy versions but because they are more costly than the cheap plastic sippy cups with Dora, Barbie, or name your character, I chose to go with the one that will outlast they toddler years... that's if it does not get lost.

Here is a list of wonderful non-plastic products that are easy to incorporate into your life

The Container Store
Bambu (I don't recommend hot things in this product, but the kid utensils are great)
Pyrex!!
Waxed Bags (see ya ziplock)
Happy Sacks
To Go Wear
Klean Kanteen
Born Free Baby Bottles
More Glass Baby Bottles
HealthyToys.org (I don't know a lot about this site yet I just found it)

This post does not even begin to touch on the topic of non-plastic toys, that can be another post all in its own. I just finished a great book called Children At Play and will eventually write about the importance of play and why specific types of toys matter in a later post.