POLYCARBONATE - SAFETY CONCERNS

Polycarbonate plastic is classified as a #7 plastic, which is a recycling code that indicates the type of resin used in the manufacturing. Polycarbonate plastic possesses several unique characteristics which include light weight, optical clarity, shatter resistance, dimensional stability, electrical resistance and high-heat resistance. It is, therefore, an ideal choice of material for making tableware as well as re-usable bottles and food storage containers which can be used in freezer and microwave. Polycarbonate plastic has been used extensively for making all sorts of food containers for over 50 years. About a decade ago, as majority of baby bottles were made of polycarbonate instead of glass, health concerns were raised regarding the possibility of Bisphenol-A leaking from the baby bottles.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is an industrial chemical that is a key building block of polycarbonate plastic. This chemical has been extensively studied by government and scientific bodies worldwide due to the fact that it is so prevalent in our everyday life. At that time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set a maximum acceptable or "reference" dose for BPA of 0.05 milligrams per kilogram body weight per day. In recent years, a great number of researchers from government agencies, academia and industry worldwide have studied the potential for low levels of BPA to migrate from polycarbonate products into foods and beverages. These studies consistently show that the potential migration of BPA into food is extremely low, generally less than 5 parts per billion, under conditions typical for uses of polycarbonate products. This level is more than 4000 times lower than the acceptable dose set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. An average adult would have to ingest more than 1,300 pounds of food and beverages in contact with polycarbonate EVERY day for their ENTIRE life to exceed that level.

The use of polycarbonate plastic for food contact applications continues to be recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food, the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency, the Japanese Ministry for Health, Labor and Welfare and other regulatory authorities worldwide.

We encourage our customers to take a look at a very comprehensive website www.bisphenol-a.org devoted to the studying of BPA. You may call us or email us with any of your concerns and/or questions.

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