Avent to Bfree

Mummy decided to switch to BornFree aka Bfree milk bottles after she read the following news articles from The Financial Times. Previously she was using Avent. BFree is Bisphenol-A chemical free, helps reduce vacuum and painful colic and reduce the risk of middle ear infection.

The Express On Sunday, September 16, 2007

A CHEMICAL used in the production of plastic baby feeding bottles may cause birth defects, early puberty, hyperactivity, and cancer, alarming new research reveals.

Experts have now called for a complete ban on the chemical, bisphenol A - known as BPA - which is used in the production of 90 per cent of feeding bottles sold in the UK. Baby bottle manufacturers are mounting a fierce defence of their use of BPA, but they are up against the damning consensus of an international conference, whose findings are published in the top scientific journal, Reproductive Toxicology.

Although BPA is one of the most widely used chemicals in the world, and traces are therefore found in the bodies of most human beings, 38 leading scientists are backing the ban. Professor Fred vom Saal, of the University of Missouri, is the world's leading authority on BPA. He said animal studies have raised fears about the relationship between BPA - which mimics the female hormone oestrogen - and a spectrum of illnesses, from abnormal development of reproductive organs to early sexual maturation in females, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, obesity and type 2 diabetes, low sperm counts, and an increase in prostate and breast cancers. He added: "We were all agreed that BPA should not be used in baby feeding bottles. The risk is too great." The chemical is used to make other items including water cooler containers, sports bottles, microwave dishes and liners for canned food.

The scientists, meeting in the US, agreed that babies are exposed to levels exceeding those that harm laboratory animals. In the latest animal study, Retha Newbold, of the US government's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said BPA caused reproductive damage similar to the anti-miscarriage drug DES (diethylstilbestrol), a synthetic oestrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women from the Forties to the late Seventies. That drug led to "DES daughters, " born with reproductive defects that caused infertility and cancers.

Baby bottle manufacturers such as Avent - owned by the multi-national Philips - argue that animal studies cannot be compared to human studies. But Professor vom Saal said: "There is essentially no difference in the way that rat or mouse cells respond to BPA and the way humans respond to it. "So when the manufacturers say only small - harmless - amounts get into a baby, it is not appreciated that this is enough to alter the delicate hormonal balance of the body."

In Britain, Professor Vyvyan Howard of Ulster University said: "You do not want manmade, unnatural hormones being taken into the body when babies are at a developmental stage. The first few months out of the womb are crucial, babies are still developing their brains and their reproductive organs.
"Given the evidence we now have, BPA should be banned."

Here's more about the brands of milk bottles which are not "plastic"-free:
http://newsblaze.com/story/2007031212153500002.mwir/topstory.html

http://www.foxreno.com/news/11126871/detail.html#