Green To Grow Welcome Home Set Reg Neck

Green to Grow, in the most fundamental sense, did not start as an idea for a company. It began with our commitment, as parents, to the gathering of information that would allow us to provide the best possible care for our son, to keep him healthy, and to protect him from as many dangers as we could. What we found, and continue to find in our research, is both appalling and inspiring. Appalling because humans have created an astounding array of dangers for ourselves, and especially for our children. Inspiring because there is deep and widespread commitment to addressing these dangers and to promoting healthy alternatives.

Creating a line of bisphenol A free baby bottles was our way of taking direct action where we saw a need. But while addressing a single concern is a positive step, we believe our responsibility cannot end there. In order to address the problems associated with the effects of toxic chemicals on human health and on the environment, we must join together with the larger community of those who are working for a greener and safer world. Not just for our children, though they are certainly the most vulnerable in every sense, but for all of us.

learn more about the bisphenol A controversy

In February 2007, the public advocacy group Environment California Research & Policy Center published a report titled Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals in Clear Plastic Baby Bottles. The report describes the harmful effects of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a developmental, reproductive, and neural toxicant found in polycarbonate plastic—the material used to make the vast majority of baby bottles.

Soon after this report was released, a billion dollar class-action lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles against five major baby bottle manufacturers over the dangers of BPA. The lawsuit alleges that potentially harmful levels of BPA can leach from polycarbonate baby bottles, when they are heated, and migrate into the contained liquid. The California legislature has also debated the safety of BPA, and next year supervisors in San Francisco will consider a citywide ban on BPA.

Chemical companies and baby bottle manufacturers claim human exposure to low doses of BPA is harmless. Yet there is growing scientific evidence to the contrary. In August 2007, an expert government panel found there is concern that bisphenol A causes neural and behavior problems among children who have been exposed to the chemical before or after birth.

Many consumers are unaware of this controversy and continue to purchase polycarbonate baby bottles, having never heard of BPA or the dangers it may pose for their families.

BPA is also widespread in bodies of water such as rivers and estuaries, and in landfills, where it leaches into the surrounding ecosystems.

The resources below are intended to provide you with greater detail about the bisphenol a controversy.

bispehnol A in the press

From: Plastics May Not Be So Fantastic for Kids. Los Angeles Times, Sept. 2007.

“Newborns and developing fetuses are, in general, highly vulnerable to toxic exposures. Pound for pound, kids breathe more air, consume more food and drink more water than adults; they also tend to put just about anything—edible or not—into their mouths, which translates into much bigger doses of environmental chemicals than adults take in.”

“[BPA] was originally thought to be a fairly weak estrogen-mimicker. But more recently, studies have shown that even at extremely low doses, it can exert an estrogenic effect on cells. In the more than 150 studies on the effects of very low doses of bisphenol A in animals, the chemical has been linked to prostrate and mammary gland cancers, early onset puberty and reproductive-organ defects.”

From: Toxic Baby Bottles: Scientific Study Finds Leaching Chemicals In Clear Plastic Baby Bottles. Environment California Research & Poli