BPA Free is a new running Greenthinkers feature where we discuss BPA, link to BPA-related pieces in the news, and also discuss and review all the BPA-free products you can handle. Enjoy your new BPA-free life.

To begin, what is BPA? To start, let’s get scientific: Bisphenol A, commonly abbreviated as BPA, is an organic compound with two phenol functional groups. It is a difunctional building block of several important polymers and polymer additives. With an annual production of approximately 3 million tonnes, it is an important monomer in the production of polycarbonate. Now let’s get real: Bisphenol-A is a hormone-disrupting chemical considered to be potentially harmful to human health and the environment. It has been known that scratched and worn polycarbonate feeding bottles will leach this chemical into liquids.

Is this new? All in all, BPA has been suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930s though it only really started to grab headlines this year when several governments issued reports questioning its safety and some retailers even started to pull products made from it off their shelves.

But how harmful can this really be? While the plastics industry insists BPA is harmless, recent reports suggest it has an estrogen-mimicking effect that interferes with hormone levels and cell signaling systems. Long-term exposure may put you at risk for a gamut of health hazards including breast cancer and uterine fibroids, in women, and prostate cancer and decreased sperm counts in men. Even scarier? Infants and children could face behavioral problems such as hyperactivity or an early onset of puberty.

Scared yet? No need. Over the coming weeks and months, Greenthinkers will be bringing you lots of BPA news, views and product reviews. We hope you enjoy it.