Across the U.S., bottle feeding is a common way to provide infants with some or all of their food. New parents are commonly instructed to warm milk or formula to body temperature so it will be comfortable and healthy for the baby to drink.
That's a major problem if your bottles aren't made to take the heat — and according to recent lawsuits, bottles from Philips North America and Handi-Craft Company aren't, Reuters reported.
What's happening?
On June 25, two proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in California's federal court against these baby bottle providers. The lawsuits allege that the companies failed to warn buyers about the bottles, which are made of polypropylene.
Why does polypropylene make a difference?
When heated, these bottles shed microplastics, tiny fragments of plastic that can be absorbed by the human body, according to Reuters. The full extent of their health effects is unknown, but they've been linked to cancer.
Plastic bottles have also been found to leach other chemicals into the liquid inside when they get warm.
The baby bottles in the lawsuit were advertised as being BPA-free, Reuters reported. Since BPA is a common chemical that can leach into liquids from heated plastic, BPA-free products might be mistakenly seen as heat-safe by the public. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that sellers knew baby bottles would be routinely heated as part of their normal use and failed to warn parents against it.
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"The science regarding microplastics [is] particularly concerning with regard to babies and infants," Shireen Clarkson, one of the attorneys involved in the lawsuits, told Reuters.
What's being done about the allegedly unsafe baby bottles?
The lawsuits that have just been filed seek damages not just for California residents but for buyers of these baby bottles across the nation, Reuters reported. They also seek to prevent the bottles from being sold or from being marketed as safe for babies.
There are also plastic-free alternatives like silicon or glass bottles that parents may want to explore, according to Consumer Reports.
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