Playtex to Stop Using BPA By End of 2008

Baby bottle maker Playtex has announced that the company intends to stop using polycarbonate plastic (and thus BPA) in all of its products by the end of 2008. Gee, this is happening fast, isn't it?

Companies left to fall include Avent, Boon, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber, Munchkin, Playskool, The First Years, Tupperware, and a few others.

Gerber is in the best position to go BPA-free, and we predict they'll be one of the first big movers: They have remained relatively quiet in the BPA debate, and have many products available without it, including one of the industry's few BPA-free pacifiers (Evenflo has another in its new Mimi line). The big problem for Gerber will be the growing awareness and concern over BPA in the metal lids of glass baby food jars.

Now that Tritan copolyester has taken center stage in the adult drink bottle market, any of these companies might switch over with relative technical and ideological ease; the plastic seems to have the same properties of clarity and durability as polycarbonate, and, as one industry insider told us last week, this probably means that unlike a switch to PES, polyamide, or any of the other softer plastics, it may be feasible to pour into the bottle molds a company is already using. That means no new product design time, no new mold-making, and little testing, and gets the revised product to market that much faster.

We predict that Dr. Brown's will discontinue its polycarbonate bottles within six months, and have a BPA-free trainer cup within a year. A product no one wants to buy is a financial drain both for the wasted effort of producing it and the confusion it causes for consumers.

At the other end of the spectrum, Philips-owned Avent just released a new, state-of-the-art version of its Isis electric breast pump, complete with shimmering polycarbonate breast flanges - a purely cosmetic move to ensure that their product screams "premium," since no one is worried about whether breast pump flanges are shatterproof. Store shelves are lined with similarly diamondlike pacifiers; although most companies use polycarbonate pacifier shields, Avent chose to advertise it by going with a crystal-clear design. Whoops!

There is little doubt that Philips executives are not having a pleasant weekend. The company's PR rep went AWOL on us months ago after we started inquiring into Avent's membership in the Coalition for Consumer Choice, a pro-BPA pressure group. Expect major movement at Avent soon, and watch your step - heads may roll.

Photo by aussiegall, shared on Flickr.