San Francisco, 11 November 2009 -- Remembrance Day best wishes to Canadians out there. Life Without Plastic is in San Francisco for the 2009 Green Business Conference (you can read more about that on our blog) and attending, but not exhibiting at, the San Francisco Green Festival.  So while on the West Coast, it's an honour to highlight the stunning work of Seattle-based award-winning photographer, Chris Jordan. He has released a mesmerizing, must-watch video of photos he took in September 2009.  Here is his own description of this powerful, powerful, powerful photo and video essay, which you can watch on YouTube or directly on his site, where full size images like the one below are also available for viewing:

"These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."

 

Photo Credit:  Chris Jordan

www.chrisjordan.com

Wakefield, 31 October 2009 -- The research indicating problematic health-related issues linked to the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) continues to emerge on a regular basis.  BPA is the primary constituent of hard polycarbonate plastic used to make many baby bottles, water bottles and the large blue-coloured water containers for water dispensers.  A recent study conducted in Cincinatti, Ohio measured the level of BPA in 249 pregnant women before and after they gave birth - 99% showed detectable levels of BPA.  The children's behaviour was then assessed at two years of age.  The researchers found that the daughters of women with the highest concentrations of BPA in their bodies exhibited aggressive and hyperactive behaviour, but there was no significant effect in boys.  The children will be tested again at five years of age.

Read the full study - Prenatal Bisphenol A Exposure and Early Childhood Behavior - published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

(Photo credit: Lake Eufala News)

Wakefield, 24 September 2009 -- In late May 2009, food and chemical industry lobbyists met in Washington, D.C. to discuss communications strategies aimed at keeping the toxic plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) on the market and front and centre in the lives of mothers, minorities and the poor. The internal meeting notes were leaked to media and the Environmental Working Group, and indicate plans to use deception-based techniques, including using a pregnant woman as a national spokesperson on the benefits of BPA. The notes highlight the importance of focusing on the impact of BPA bans on minorities (Hispanic and African American) and poor.  Fear tactics are suggested -- e.g., “Do you want to have access to baby food anymore?” 

Read the full story at the Environmental Working Group Enviroblog.

Read the meeting notes outlining the tactics discussed at the meeting. 

There is substantial - and constantly growing - research that BPA can negatively impact health at very low doses, especially for infants. BPA has been banned in Canada for use in plastic baby bottles and containers for baby formula.  In the U.S., while the Food and Drug Administration has not yet recommended discontinuing use of BPA-containing plastic containers, a comprehensive September 2008 report of U.S. Department of Health Human Services (National Toxicology Progam) report indicated "some concern for effects [of BPA] on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and children at current human exposures."  

(Photo credit: shine.yahoo.com)

Wakefield, 1 August 2009 -- Health Canada researchers have found trace amounts of the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A leaching out of some 'BPA-free' plastic baby bottles made of polysulfone, polystyrene or polypropylene. BPA is the principal component of polycarbonate plastic, and it is banned in Canada for use in baby bottles and the lining of baby formula containers. This news is especially disturbing given that BPA is not meant to be a component of these non-polycarbonate plastics. The researchers raise the possibility of cross-contamination during the manufacturing process, and if that is the case, that would make it practically impossible to know if something contains BPA without testing it. For more details on the report and expert commentary about it, take a look at this article.

(photo credit: Canwest News Service)