Breast-feeding is the best choice for your baby’s overall physical and mental development. But when nursing is impossible, the bottle becomes indispensable for feeding baby and exercising his or her jaw muscles. At Green Baby we prefer BPA-Free glass bottles over plastic – here’s why:
• BPA-Free Glass Baby Bottles are seeing a rise in popularity again because there have been some findings that show plastic baby bottles may be harmful to your child. Studies have been done to show that the most widely available Polycarbonate baby bottles contain a trace toxin, bisphenol-A. The exact risks to humans from bisphenol-A is unknown so many people are switching to BPA-Free glass. The main concerns are that the amount of toxins that a baby ingests is a very large amount compared to the baby’s body weight and also the fact that a baby’s organs are still growing and therefore more likely to be affected by any toxins. Read BBC news article from 6th May 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7384856.stm and 14th March 2009 on the potential dangers posed by plastic feeding bottles.
• BPA-Free Glass baby bottles are recyclable. Bisphenol-A Free Glass is also a renewable resource, while plastic bottles are petroleum based products, requiring the use of non-renewable resources. The production of glass does not harm the environment in the way that the manufacture of plastic does.
Latex is the milky sap harvested from rubber trees. Rubber trees are one of the main forms of vegetation in tropical rain forests, which in recent years have become threatened by deforestation. By using latex in manufacturing, suppliers can help make sustainability profitable, which will help preserve this precious resource or future generations.
Although Green Baby aims to avoid selling products containing plastic, at times an alternative simply is not available. Where we have included plastic items in our range, we try to guarantee that they are PVC-free and do not contain Bisphenol A. There are many reasons we choose to avoid PVC:
• Chemicals such as phthalates are added to PVC to make it soft and flexible. Laboratory studies show that some of these chemicals may interfere with development and the reproductive system.
• Recent testing by several governments concluded that children can ingest hazardous chemicals from PVC toys.
• PVC is difficult to recycle. When PVC products are no longer useable they are put inlandfill sites, where they may leach toxic additives, or they are incinerated, which may emit dioxins and heavy metals.* *Source: Greenpeace
At Green Baby we try to avoid using nickel in our products. Nickel is a naturally occurring element, most widely used to make stainless steel, zips, jewellery, and fasteners for clothes. Nickel, however, poses a risk to both health and the environment:
• Nickel mines and nickel refineries pollute the air and surrounding water systems; this has been known to seriously affect the health of people working in or aroundthese areas.
• Nickel causes allergies, particularly when used close tothe skin in items such as jewellery, fasteners and cutlery.
• Eczema of the hand is a fairly common reaction to contact with nickel and dermatitis can develop among people sensitiveto nickel.*