Colorado State University Extension
SafeFood Rapid Response Network


SAFEFOOD NEWS - Summer 1999 - Vol 3 / No. 3

Go to Table of Contents for this issue

Are Plastic Baby Bottles Unsafe?

The "Baby Alert" article in the May '99 Consumer Reports has fueled quite a debate. The article alleges that when infant formula is heated in polycarbonate (clear hard plastic) baby bottles, bisphenol-A leaches into the formula. The article goes on to suggest that exposure to bisphenol-A has been demonstrated to adversely affect the health of animals tested in studies conducted at the University of Missouri, Columbia, by Dr. Fredrick vom Saal. Based on testing in their own labs, the authors of the Consumer Reports' article reported "that a typical baby who drank formula sterilized by heating in the bottle would be exposed to a bisphenol-A dose of about 4 percent of an amount that had adversely affected test animals in studies by Frederick vom Saal." The article recommends that consumers dispose of all clear, shiny plastic baby bottles, unless the manufacturer tells you they're not made of polycarbonate.

A Closer Look

George Pauli, director of the division of product policy at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the agency is following the low dose issue closely and has seen no reason to take any actions. Regarding the bisphenol-A issue, he said, "It is troubling that people who appear in good faith to replicate (the vom Saal study) haven't been able to replicate those findings. When you have larger studies intended to replicate a smaller study, and when you do not see the effects, it certainly casts doubt on relying on one study and ignoring the larger ones."

Pauli said, "with baby bottles, we haven't been able to detect bisphenol-A if we use reasonable extraction techniques." Bisphenol-A leaches from polycarbonate baby bottles only under exaggerated conditions. "If you heat a bottle with heat and liquid long enough, you can reverse the polymerization to a certain extent (causing bisphenol-A to migrate)." Pauli notes that testing conditions used by Consumers Union, which included boiling the bottles with formula for 30 minutes, were not realistic.

Accepted guidelines for sterilizing infant bottles call for sterilizing the bottles separate from the formula and, if necessary, sterilizing the water used in making the formula, but not the formula itself. Further, the recommendation to sterilize water and bottles is for infants under 3 months of age. After 3 months, unless otherwise indicated by a health care provider, bottles and water used for preparing infant formula do not require sterilization. It is well known that hot formula should not be fed to infants as it can lead to serious burns. Pauli's comment that Consumers Union used unreasonable and exaggerated conditions is correct; it could also be dangerous if formula made in this manner was fed to an infant. The other question consumers may ask is what if the formula is warmed in the bottle in a microwave oven, would this lead to bisphenol-A being leached into the formula? Because of the potential for hot spots, heating infant formula in a microwave oven is not a recommended practice. Infants have been seriously burned while being fed liquids warmed in microwave ovens.

Bottom Line

FDA has evaluated food contact uses of bisphenol-A in a thorough manner, and concludes its use is safe. In other words, don't throw out the plastic baby bottles.

Sources:

• "Baby alert. New findings about plastics," Consumer Reports, May 1999, pp. 28-29.
• "Infant Nutrition and Feeding. A Reference Handbook for Nutrition and Health Counselors in the WIC and CSF Programs," USDA, Food and Nutrition Service, 1993.
• "FDA Unimpressed by Low Dose Claims," Endocrine/Estrogen Letter, Vol. 5, No. 10 (106), May 20, 1999.
• Statement from the American Plastics Council Regarding Consumer Reports "Baby Alert," May 1999.

Updated Monday, August 29, 2011