BPA-free Cans

[Shel_B]

So many people lobbied to get BPA out of cans that manufacturers are removing the chemical. Very nice ... but, have you asked yourself what BPA has been replaced with. In many instances it's BPS, which is in the same family as BPA. It's not very good stuff either ... but now our cans are free of that nasty BPA.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bpa-replacement-also-alters-hormones

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/manufacturers-replace-bpa-still-highly-toxic-bps

What are your feelings about this? Do you care about these chemicals being potentially dangerous? Or do you feel that these chemicals are safe to use, perhaps a loud few are blowing the issue out of proportion? Do you seek out safer packaging (whatever that may mean to you) or just reach for a favorite brand or what's on sale with little thought to the packaging? Do you trust certain brands to do the right thing, or are you skeptical of any claims that may be made?

[takadi]

I think France is phasing it out completely but according to what I've read so far, which isn't that much, there isn't much evidence suggesting that the levels of BPA that we are exposed to are significant for effects on reproductive and endocrine systems to happen. Though the evidence does show that on animal tests higher levels do cause disorders in sexual dimorphic traits in the reproductive system and the brain. I think a lot of the bans and regulations are, to quote, purely "cosmetic"

[annabelle]

Potential harm does not equal certain harm. When relying on animal testing studies, in general the animal is given an enormous amount of the substance to be tested, much much larger than a human would be able to consume in a lifetime, let alone in the condensed time frame used in the test. As of now, the FDA does not call Bisphenol A a toxin, but it does caution not to heat containers lined with BPA if one is worried about transfer.

This isn't a thing I worry about. At all.

Edited December 10, 2013 by annabelle (log)

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Honestly, I eat so little canned food.... I'm with Annabelle, it's not something I worry about.

[Jaymes]

I'm kinda glad that the alarmist crowd is vigilant, because otherwise we might still be sealing tin cans with lead.

So I want to know.

But then, I want to decide for myself how much of a threat any of this stuff poses.

In general, our family doesn't eat "a lot" of much of anything, so rarely do we decide that we consume enough of any one product for it to be of any real danger to us.

In this case, sign me up with the "not at all" crowd.

[annabelle]

PanaCana and Jaymes, we tend to eat mainly freshly prepared foods, except pasta since I have to draw the line somewhere or never leave the kitchen.

I generally try to keep track of what may or may not be good or bad for us, but honestly, it's a crap shoot. Remember when eggs were going to kill us? Now it's wheat and GMOs or farmed fish. No! shellfish! No! Nitrates!

You get the picture.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Annabelle - I generally eat freshly-prepared foods (and I'm totally with you on pasta - I work in a bakery and then come home and live in my kitchen. If I made pasta too I'd never see the outside of the kitchen or get much sleep!)

And on the no-no list the only things are those that I or my family are actually allergic to. In any other respect, bring on the butter-drenched shellfish - I'm going to die anyhow, so I might as well enjoy myself while I'm here.