BPA-Free Tomato Sauce and FDA BPA Reversal

The list of potential health concerns related to BPA is growing. BPA, a synthetic estrogen, has been linked to interference in brain and organ function and has finally been banned from baby bottles. It is still in their formula, though. It is also linked to cancer (pancreatic, breast, etc.), diabetes and obesity, with the list of diseases expected to grow. If you are drinking bottled water, know that you are ingesting more BPA than most people. Here is just one fact sheet that will be an eye opener: Fact Sheet: Bisphenol A and breast cancer. It appears that the FDA is finally empowered enough to begin to address the threats, thanks to a change in Presidential administration: In Reversal, U.S. Expresses Concern Over Additive to Plastics ...

My family has become almost BPA-free. We carry our water in Nalgene bottles: Welcome to NALGENE Outdoor!. Other people use the stainless steel Kleen Kanteen: Klean Kanteen Official Site: the original eco-friendly, bpa-free ... or a similar type bottle. If you are purchasing a bottle similar to Klean Kanteen, verify that it is BPA-free. While the Kleen Kanteen is more environmentally friendly because it doesn’t use plastic, Nalgene bottles are less costly and fit better into our budget. We figure that we are using them for years, so we are comfortable with purchasing a few.

What is our source for BPA ingestion? Tomato sauce in a can. I use two cans of tomato sauce three times a year. The sauce is for my favorite recipe, Cajun Chicken Big Mamou: A Day in the Life – Menu Day 1. Every time I use it, I pause and reflect on my choice to put a known poison into my family’s body, but I know that we eat so well overall that our risks are relatively minimal.

The power of community showed itself again the other day in relation to my conundrum. My friend Suzanne in the Holistic Moms Network posted a link regarding tomato sauce producers who do not use BPA: BPA-free Tomatoes Do Exist! | The Soft Landing Blog. Thank you Suzanne! I will be ordering a few containers.

What do I do for other dishes calling for tomato sauce? I chop up fresh tomatoes. The North Carolina State Farmers Market has tomatoes all year, with hot house tomatoes available in the winter. Some of the Farmers have pesticide-free tomatoes year-round, so I am not worried about direct application pesticides. My friend Luke, an organic farmer and landscape designer (see Branches Ecological Landscapes) will provide an article discussing plant uptake of heavy metals so that we can better gauge which non-organic veggies are relatively healthy and which are not.

Health is a journey with always more to learn, and we can’t do it by ourselves. I am immensely grateful for my community of friends.