Safe Alternatives for Baby and Child

Even with an ocean of information available on BPA, us SAFbaby mamas still had some unanswered questions.  So, we went to BPA expert Dr. John Bucher for our answers.

We all know the dangers of BPA to our little ones.  BPA is an estrogen mimicking chemical and is found in over 90% of the population’s bodies!

But we still wanted to know a little more.  We wanted to know things such as how an individual could cleanse BPA from their bodies, if children have the ability to cleanse BPA at all, and more.  Here you go….

Our Interview With BPA Expert Dr. John Bucher

Can anyone be tested to see if they have BPA in their blood?

You can be tested but since over 90% of the population tests positive, you can pretty much assume that it’s there. BPA comes not only from polycarbonate plastics and the white tin can linings, but also from PVC pipes that many homes have in their water supply lines as well as in the thermal paper that is used for some credit card and lots of register receipts.

Is it possible (and how) to cleanse the body from BPA?

There isn’t any way, or really any need to try to cleanse BPA from your body as everyone has the enzymes needed to convert BPA into a form easily excreted in the urine. This happens very quickly such that the BPA everyone is exposed to everyday is essentially completely excreted the same day.

So if BPA is easily removed from the body, why is it so toxic for us?

There remain considerable uncertainties about just how toxic BPA is for humans. I am not particularly concerned about it’s toxicity to adults, but it has hormonal disrupting activities, and the fetus has less enzymatic capacity to change BPA to non active forms. So, what little does get to a fetus may interfere with normal development if present at critical times during gestation. But, again the degree to which this really happens given current exposures to pregnant women remains an open question.

Can you please clarify why there is “no need” to cleanse the body of BPA since it is so harmful to the hormones and reproductive systems of our small children?  It seems that it would be of utmost importance for pregnant moms to cleanse BPA from their systems as much as possible before getting pregnant since there have been studies done showing that a woman with in their systems when pregnant leads to an increased possibility of a child with behavioral problems by age 2.  Since 90%+ of the population has BPA in their bodies, isn’t that evidence that our bodies are not easily converting BPA easily into urine?

We understand that the exposure factor and age are huge determents as to how much BPA is in our systems.  But, if a woman intending to get pregnant has lots more BPA in her system than average, is there nothing she can do before getting pregnant (cleanse of BPA) to help her provide her child a better chance of hormonal and reproductive health?

Your answers above are confusing to us because it seems that there is no reason for concern over BPA, but the evidence and research being done states that we should be very concerned for our babies and kids.  Any more information you can share is greatly appreciated.

Sure, I’ll give it a try.

There are two ways to reduce the body burden of any chemical. One is to increase the rate of elimination, the other is to reduce intake. Since all adults have the capacity to completely eliminate BPA without doing anything special, the only practical way to reduce BPA levels in the body is to avoid exposures.

The fact that 90% percent of people surveyed have BPA in their bodies as demonstrated by detecting it in their urine just goes to show how common it is to be exposed to the chemical in everyday life. It doesn’t mean that we need to do something special to cleanse the system.

My statement (above) that there is no need to cleanse the body of BPA has nothing to do with whether BPA is dangerous or not, it just means that our bodies are fully capable of getting rid of whatever amount we take in. Does this help?

Does that mean children don’t have the capacity to eliminate BPA?

Children have the capacity to metabolize and eliminate BPA, but it develops slowly during gestation and probably doesn’t reach adult levels until 3 years of age or so. This is one of the reasons kids and especially infants are more at risk.

Dr. John Bucher’s Bio

Thanks so much to Dr. Bucher for sharing your expertise and answering our unanswered questions!

Bucher is an internationally recognized expert in the design and interpretation of cancer bioassays, and has authored a number of important publications examining critical issues in dose selection for toxicology and cancer studies. He holds a doctorate in pharmacology from the University of Iowa, a Masters of Science in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

For more info on John Bucher, please click here.

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