BPA - or bisphenol-A - has been exposed! I have always know that it's bad, very bad, but alas, knowing that 91% of all Canadian are walking around with some BPA in their bodies at all time, it's difficult not to continue to be discouraged about it's prevalence.

Health Effects of BPA (www.ewg.org)

StatsCan came out yesterday with new data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey, with new information about the levels of toxins like BPA, lead and mercury in the bodies of Canadians. And the data is disturbing. It actually makes me want to vomit! Check out the table to the right, published by the Environmental Working Group in the US, as to the effects of BPA.

After reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck, written by Environmental Defense's Rick Smith, and his compatriot Bruce Lourie, my whole world changed! As I have mentioned in the past, I have done a complete overhaul of my bathroom vanity, and ditched anything and everything toxic I could find. Cold turkey. At least I felt better about what I was putting on my body, but was still largely unphased about the plastic that loomed in my kitchen!

I always do my best to use as little plastic as possible when cooking or storing food, and NEVER heat food in plastic. That is like the epitome evil in the BPA world! Almost 100% of my food storage containers are glass and I choose stainless steel water bottles, a good old fashioned glass tumbler, or ceramic mug for my water. I even have an insulated stainless mug for my coffee! As of yesterday, I voided my life of plastic cooking utensils, and have begun to replace them with stainless or renewable wood products. I refuse to be held captive by plastics anymore!!

And on another note, I have always paid strict attention when gifting to others, especially my friends who are with child. No more plastic toys and/or sippy cups (which I don't normally gift anyhow), but I will pay even more attention moving forward.

I think each of us can pay a little more heed to the plastics that surround us and that we use everyday. There is lots of information out there, and since yesterday, there will undoubtedly be more and more research done on BPA and its effects. Check out the stories that CBC has done on BPA over the past couple of days.

I encourage everyone reading this to take a pledge to reduce the amount of plastic in their lives, and make one or two small changes to reduce the amount of BPA you are ingesting. After all, the silver lining in all of this, is that BPA has a short half-life of 6 hours, so the more we limit our exposure, the less of the harmful chemical we will be harbouring.

What are you doing to limit your exposure? Let me know!