sapphire
02-22-2008, 07:04 PM
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Z Report on BPA In Children's Feeding Products, Third Edition
http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/02/z-report-on-bpa-in-infant-care-products.html
Welcome to the third edition of the Z Report on BPA. We have updated our directory to include new products, update company profiles, and rerank companies based on their current plans and shifting policies regarding products that come into regular contact with children's mouths. Key improvements over the second edition include:
* The addition of tableware, pacifiers, utensils, feeding aids, pumping supplies, and more
* Coverage of 16 previously unresearched companies, for a total of 42 companies included
* Company pages now include relevant ZRecs reviews
For information about additional features we will be adding to this report in the weeks to come, scroll down below our company rankings.
The following explanatory text from our previous edition still applies:
By BPA-free, we mean that not only the main body of the item is not made of polycarbonate plastic, but that none of the item's other parts are, either. Some companies provide incomplete information and claim that their bottles or sippys are "made of polypropylene" but cite this fact in a very careful way to obscure the fact that other parts of the equipment are made of polycarbonate. This is why we discuss products one by one with company representatives in compiling our research for this and our other reports.
If your interest or allegiance lies with a particular brand or brands, please view individual company posts for item-by-item listings of which products are BPA-free and which are not, and you can then buy products even from those companies with some confidence. We say "some" because companies which are on the record as supporting the use of polycarbonate plastic are under no legal obligation to inform you if they choose to change the plastics used in their products, and if they believe that polycarbonate is as safe as other plastics, they have no reason to tell you, either.
BPA-Free Brands
For this edition of the Z Report, we have tried to clarify and further refine our company rating system. Before we offer our ratings, which take into account product quality, innovation, the range of products a company offers, their stance on BPA and their openness about sharing information about their products, we should note all the companies that are BPA-free in all their relevant products, companies from which you can buy any bottle, sippy, tableware item, utensil, or breastfeeding accessory and know that it is certain to be BPA-free. If all companies operated in this way, the Z Report would not be necessary; we believe that someday it won't; and until that day comes, we believe that parents concerned about BPA should seriously consider supporting companies which respond to that concern. Those companies are:
Adiri | Baby Bjorn | Baby Cie | Babylife (Wee-go) | BFree | Born Free | Brita | DCI | Emily Green | Green to Grow | iPlay | Kidbasix | KidCo | Klean Kanteen | Medela | Mother's Milkmate | Not Neutral | Nurture Pure | Rivadossi Sandro (Trebimbi) | SIGG | Silikids | Skip*Hop | Thermos | thinkbaby
Company Ratings
Our overall assessments of the companies whose products we cover in this report are intended to serve as an assessment of each company's overall relevance to parents who are committed to reducing the BPA exposure of children in their lives. We have divided companies into four groups based on the described criteria.
Excellent: To receive an "Excellent" rating in the Z Report on BPA, companies must provide attractive, functional products in at least two product categories or exceptional design in one category, with all mouth-contact products being exclusively BPA-free, and must indicate or demonstrate a commitment to providing BPA-free products as a matter of course in the development of new products.
Within this group, we have designated as "Top Picks" companies that have made major contributions in design or overall product-line development to the range of BPA-free options available for U.S. parents. These companies' names are printed in boldface text and their company profiles will feature the ZRecs Top Pick pink starburst for as long as they retain that status.
Adiri
Born Free
Brita
KidCo
Klean Kanteen
Green to Grow
Medela
Not Neutral
Rivadossi Sandro (Trebimbi)
SIGG
Thermos
thinkbaby
Good: Companies in this category provide predominantly BPA-free mouth-contact products and offer at least one recently-designed BPA-free item in each product area they serve. Companies which do not currently make enough relevant products to be considered major players or who have failed to innovate since an initial product launch may receive this rating, even if their full product line is entirely BPA-free; such companies' names are printed in boldface type.
Baby Bjorn
Baby Cie
Boon
DCI
Emily Green
Mother's Milkmate
Nurture Pure
Sassy
Silikids
Skip*Hop
Fair: Companies classified as "Fair" may provide excellent products in some categories but produce products in other categories while offering no quality non-polycarbonate option. Companies may express a hostility to the search for suitable alternative plastics for their products, or may have inconsistent and confusing naming, labeling, or communications policies with regards to their products' BPA status. Some BPA-free companies whose flagship products suggest significant design flaws, based on repeated user comments or ZRecs testing, or whose companies' policies, pricing or organizational status limit their products' relevance, are noted with an asterisk (*). Companies deemed likely to advance out of this category before 2009, for reasons noted in their company posts, have their names printed in boldface type.
Babylife (Wee-go)*
BFree*
Dr. Brown's
Evenflo
Gerber
iPlay
Kidbasix*
MAM
Munchkin
Nuby
Playtex
Rubbermaid
The First Years
Tommee Tippee
Poor: Companies rated "Poor" demonstrate an unwillingness to acknowledge the legitimacy of consumers' concerns about Bisphenol-A and offer few or no BPA-free products.
Ameda
Avent
Nalgene
Playskool
Second Nature
Tupperware
Over the next two weeks we will be publishing a comparative review of BPA-free bottles and assessments of some BPA-free feeding products, and incorporating the individual capsule reviews into company listings. We'll be updating these listings individually as needed and will alert readers whenever we make major updates to a company post, so if you're interested in following this issue make sure you're subscribed to ZRecs via RSS or email.
We will be publishing a series of "best-of" posts highlighting products looked at in different ways, from our favorite new product designs in single product areas to specialty companies whose offerings may be too narrow to earn "Top Pick" status but deserve a highlight for their quality or character.
We will also be following up on listed items we still don't know the BPA status of (noted in the company posts), adding a few more small companies as we go, and researching a few international companies readers have asked us to look into.
We will also be adding links to Amazon.com for purchases of all applicable and recommended products, and encourage readers who wish to support our research and advocacy to make purchases through such links or using the Amazon.com product search box on the lefthand side of the blog.
We are also developing some exciting take-away products we are not yet in a position to speak about, but will share as soon as we are able.
To see the main directory page of the previous edition of the Z Report on BPA, click here.
Disclaimer: Z Recommends collects information for its reports from official company websites, company-staffed customer service lines, and company managers and public relations officials. We also update listings as needed to correct or revise information, and encourage readers or company officials to submit questions, comments or corrections as needed to ensure that this information is as accurate as possible. By reading and acting upon the information contained here, you hereby release Z Recommends from any liability for the information provided in this or other ZRecs reports.
The Z Report on BPA In Children's Feeding Products, Third Edition
http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/02/z-report-on-bpa-in-infant-care-products.html
Welcome to the third edition of the Z Report on BPA. We have updated our directory to include new products, update company profiles, and rerank companies based on their current plans and shifting policies regarding products that come into regular contact with children's mouths. Key improvements over the second edition include:
* The addition of tableware, pacifiers, utensils, feeding aids, pumping supplies, and more
* Coverage of 16 previously unresearched companies, for a total of 42 companies included
* Company pages now include relevant ZRecs reviews
For information about additional features we will be adding to this report in the weeks to come, scroll down below our company rankings.
The following explanatory text from our previous edition still applies:
By BPA-free, we mean that not only the main body of the item is not made of polycarbonate plastic, but that none of the item's other parts are, either. Some companies provide incomplete information and claim that their bottles or sippys are "made of polypropylene" but cite this fact in a very careful way to obscure the fact that other parts of the equipment are made of polycarbonate. This is why we discuss products one by one with company representatives in compiling our research for this and our other reports.
If your interest or allegiance lies with a particular brand or brands, please view individual company posts for item-by-item listings of which products are BPA-free and which are not, and you can then buy products even from those companies with some confidence. We say "some" because companies which are on the record as supporting the use of polycarbonate plastic are under no legal obligation to inform you if they choose to change the plastics used in their products, and if they believe that polycarbonate is as safe as other plastics, they have no reason to tell you, either.
BPA-Free Brands
For this edition of the Z Report, we have tried to clarify and further refine our company rating system. Before we offer our ratings, which take into account product quality, innovation, the range of products a company offers, their stance on BPA and their openness about sharing information about their products, we should note all the companies that are BPA-free in all their relevant products, companies from which you can buy any bottle, sippy, tableware item, utensil, or breastfeeding accessory and know that it is certain to be BPA-free. If all companies operated in this way, the Z Report would not be necessary; we believe that someday it won't; and until that day comes, we believe that parents concerned about BPA should seriously consider supporting companies which respond to that concern. Those companies are:
Adiri | Baby Bjorn | Baby Cie | Babylife (Wee-go) | BFree | Born Free | Brita | DCI | Emily Green | Green to Grow | iPlay | Kidbasix | KidCo | Klean Kanteen | Medela | Mother's Milkmate | Not Neutral | Nurture Pure | Rivadossi Sandro (Trebimbi) | SIGG | Silikids | Skip*Hop | Thermos | thinkbaby
Company Ratings
Our overall assessments of the companies whose products we cover in this report are intended to serve as an assessment of each company's overall relevance to parents who are committed to reducing the BPA exposure of children in their lives. We have divided companies into four groups based on the described criteria.
Excellent: To receive an "Excellent" rating in the Z Report on BPA, companies must provide attractive, functional products in at least two product categories or exceptional design in one category, with all mouth-contact products being exclusively BPA-free, and must indicate or demonstrate a commitment to providing BPA-free products as a matter of course in the development of new products.
Within this group, we have designated as "Top Picks" companies that have made major contributions in design or overall product-line development to the range of BPA-free options available for U.S. parents. These companies' names are printed in boldface text and their company profiles will feature the ZRecs Top Pick pink starburst for as long as they retain that status.
Adiri
Born Free
Brita
KidCo
Klean Kanteen
Green to Grow
Medela
Not Neutral
Rivadossi Sandro (Trebimbi)
SIGG
Thermos
thinkbaby
Good: Companies in this category provide predominantly BPA-free mouth-contact products and offer at least one recently-designed BPA-free item in each product area they serve. Companies which do not currently make enough relevant products to be considered major players or who have failed to innovate since an initial product launch may receive this rating, even if their full product line is entirely BPA-free; such companies' names are printed in boldface type.
Baby Bjorn
Baby Cie
Boon
DCI
Emily Green
Mother's Milkmate
Nurture Pure
Sassy
Silikids
Skip*Hop
Fair: Companies classified as "Fair" may provide excellent products in some categories but produce products in other categories while offering no quality non-polycarbonate option. Companies may express a hostility to the search for suitable alternative plastics for their products, or may have inconsistent and confusing naming, labeling, or communications policies with regards to their products' BPA status. Some BPA-free companies whose flagship products suggest significant design flaws, based on repeated user comments or ZRecs testing, or whose companies' policies, pricing or organizational status limit their products' relevance, are noted with an asterisk (*). Companies deemed likely to advance out of this category before 2009, for reasons noted in their company posts, have their names printed in boldface type.
Babylife (Wee-go)*
BFree*
Dr. Brown's
Evenflo
Gerber
iPlay
Kidbasix*
MAM
Munchkin
Nuby
Playtex
Rubbermaid
The First Years
Tommee Tippee
Poor: Companies rated "Poor" demonstrate an unwillingness to acknowledge the legitimacy of consumers' concerns about Bisphenol-A and offer few or no BPA-free products.
Ameda
Avent
Nalgene
Playskool
Second Nature
Tupperware
Over the next two weeks we will be publishing a comparative review of BPA-free bottles and assessments of some BPA-free feeding products, and incorporating the individual capsule reviews into company listings. We'll be updating these listings individually as needed and will alert readers whenever we make major updates to a company post, so if you're interested in following this issue make sure you're subscribed to ZRecs via RSS or email.
We will be publishing a series of "best-of" posts highlighting products looked at in different ways, from our favorite new product designs in single product areas to specialty companies whose offerings may be too narrow to earn "Top Pick" status but deserve a highlight for their quality or character.
We will also be following up on listed items we still don't know the BPA status of (noted in the company posts), adding a few more small companies as we go, and researching a few international companies readers have asked us to look into.
We will also be adding links to Amazon.com for purchases of all applicable and recommended products, and encourage readers who wish to support our research and advocacy to make purchases through such links or using the Amazon.com product search box on the lefthand side of the blog.
We are also developing some exciting take-away products we are not yet in a position to speak about, but will share as soon as we are able.
To see the main directory page of the previous edition of the Z Report on BPA, click here.
Disclaimer: Z Recommends collects information for its reports from official company websites, company-staffed customer service lines, and company managers and public relations officials. We also update listings as needed to correct or revise information, and encourage readers or company officials to submit questions, comments or corrections as needed to ensure that this information is as accurate as possible. By reading and acting upon the information contained here, you hereby release Z Recommends from any liability for the information provided in this or other ZRecs reports.