If you're the type to be suspicious of chemicals and corporations, and especially their mixture, this will likely not surprise you:
A team of investigative journalists from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did one of those surprisingly simple things that we love real, honest-to-god investigative journalists for: an experiment. Specifically, they took 10 items marked with the comforting phrase "microwave safe" that were likely to be ingested by children or used for children's food (several were actually baby food, one was formula), heated them (in both a microwave and an oven), and had the contents tested for bisphenol-A (BPA).
(If you've been under a rock, BPA is the hormone-like substance that everyone from the Canadian government to Wal-Mart have been all freaked out about getting out of baby bottles recently, on account of it's been shown to do nasty things to neurological development and also cause pre-cancerous changes to mammary glands and other fun stuff at super low levels.)
I think you can tell where this is headed: All of the food had levels of BPA that were shown in lab tests to be problematic. The food in the Rubbermaid all-purpose container and the infant formula had the highest levels. So much for worrying about the bottles themselves. The article estimates how much an average kid might be ingesting per day, and it ain't pretty.
The manufacturers' response, of course, is to say it's just a tiny amount and won't hurt you. The FDA says "What they said" and goes back to buffing up an 8-year-old resume. There are (prepare to be shocked now) apparently no standards whatsoever behind the designation "microwave safe." If the container doesn't blow up, which would presumably generate complaints if not any regulatory action, then it can be labeled zappable.
This was one of those stories I almost didn't read, because I am (1) predisposed by my environmental studies background to be veeeerrrry skeptical of claims that strange chemicals are harmless and (2) completely and utterly dependent on my microwave. I'm sure as hell not going to put a pan on the stove every time I need to heat up a quarter cup of frozen peas or leftover lentil soup for my daughter.
I had been comforting myself with the vapid mneumonic that Real Money readers came up with a while back about the better and worse plastics ("1, 2, 4, 5 will keep you alive; 3, 6, 7 will send you straight to heaven." Yes, I am embarrassed that I remember it), but the infuriatingly thorough MSJ notes that BSA was leaching from no.s 1, 2, and 5 as well. Great.
I guess this is where I consider dropping the plastic bowls when microwaving is needed and hoping my toddler doesn't shatter enough of our motley assortment of ceramic ones to constitute its own safety hazard. The plastic is still going in the dishwasher though. I know my limits.
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