If you need some background on what is BPA, I’ve got a FAQ on it.

The study is consistent with other epidemiological studies which have shown links between BPA and metabolic disorders.  Because virtually all American adults have BPA in their bodies, this study suggests that BPA may pose a significant health risk. 

BPA is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic, so food and drink stored in polycarbonate plastic can result in exposure (think of those 5 gallon water bottles).   BPA is also used in the manufacture of epoxy resin linings for virtually all canned food and drink in the US – so to avoid BPA, skip canned foods. Think fresh, frozen, dried or jarred in glass over canned.  At least one study confirmed that you can reduce BPA dramatically by eliminating canned foods.  BPA is also used in the manufacture of certain thermal receipts, and can be absorbed through the skin.

Just one more reason to avoid BPA.

“about one-third of all albatross chicks die on Midway, many as the result of being mistakenly fed plastic by their parents.”

Photographer Chris Jordan has been documenting birds on Midway Atoll (way out in the Pacific Ocean, near the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). And his images of the carcasses of baby birds with bellies full of plastic bottle caps will get you doing what you can to make sure those bottle caps don’t get swept into the ocean or any other plastic debris.  Five tons of plastic comes to the remote Midway Atoll every year – cast off and forgotten by us.

So, yet again, let’s take steps to eliminate disposable plastic. Switch to reusable grocery and produce bags. Use a reusable stainless steel bottle instead of buying bottled water. Buy items in bulk instead of single serve containers. Let’s keep in mind that plastic just doesn’t go away and our world is an interconnected web. Need more ideas? Check out Beth’s My Plastic-free Life.

So I got a copy.

And it is beautiful. And lovely. And just wonderful and enchanting and charming. So I am doing a review despite saying I wouldn’t. It is that good.

Mr. FitzSimmons photographs relatively common animals – animals you might find in your backyard – against white backgrounds. (Except for the pink katydid – which is hard to find as it is a result of a condition called erythrism). This approach allows the animals to shine. You can focus on the textures, colors, and features of the animals. The presentation makes the animals seem quite exotic and interesting. It makes you realize that the world, especially the world in your backyard, is an amazing place.

Plus, the text is not only informative but fun. Really fun.

Take the story about the Ohio Crawfish -

“Do you know why I’m waving my giant claws? I’m warning you: Don’t come any closer. Snap! Snap! Snap! I catch my food with these claws. I also attack and defend myself with them. Snap! Snap! Snap! Do you want to know something really cool? If any of my legs get hurt, including my giant claws, I can grow new ones. Pretty neat, huh? Now, enough chitchat. Back off! Snap! Snap! Snap!”

Each of the 21 critters tells its story. Plus, the book includes additional natural history information for each critter and more. The information on the book indicates that it addresses all the National Research Council’s life science standards for grades K – 5.

It is a lovely, charming, enchanting book. I recommend it for any child or teacher. It would make a fabulous gift for the holidays. You can find Curious Critters on Amazon. It is scheduled for release on November 7, 2011.
And you can see more of Mr. FitzSimmons’ photography at his website.

I think it will inspire readers to care more about the natural world. And, perhaps, to go exploring to see if they can find a pink katydid.

Green Halloween is a program of the non profit organization EcoMom Alliance. The concept is to make Halloween healthier and safer for our children and for the environment.  In 2010, a record one millionpieces of candy were replaced with healthier and more sustainable treat options. This year, the revolution will continue, and the Twitter party will share information on just how to do that.

Plus, of course, there are prizes.

First, to be eligible for the prizes, make sure you are following @GreenHalloween and then RSVP by leaving your Twitter handle here in the comments. Then, join us for the #GreenHalloween Twitter party on Thursday, October 13, 2011, from 6 to 8 pm. Don’t forget to use the #greenhalloween hashtag in your tweets.

We have a ton of special guests. The partners include HonestTea @HonestTea, Goodwin Heart Pine @GoodwinLumber, Kiwi magazine @KiwiMagazine, Red Tricycle, Practically Green @PracticallyGrn, Endangered Species Chocolate @ESC_Chocolate, Nature’s Path @NaturesPath, Stretch Island Fruit Co. @StretchIsland, Revolution Foods @RevolutionFoods, Plum Organics @PlumOrganics, Surf Sweets @SurfSweets, Angell Bar @OrganicCandyBar, Mr. Halloweenster @MrHalloweenster, EcoMom.com @EcoMom, Celebrate Green! @CelebrateGreen, Today I Ate A Rainbow @eatingarainbow, Terra Firma Cosmetics MoMoGirl, The Damsel in the Attic @DamselInAttic and Neighborcare Health @Neighborcare. The nonprofit partner is Goodwill Industries International @GoodwillIntl. And, the event partners are Womentorz @Womentorz, LiveGreene @ShopLiveGreene, Natural Luxe @NaturalLuxe, Eat Cleaner @EatCleanerFood, EcoPartyTime @EcoPartyTime, Divine Events @AlyZDivine, Divine Moms @DivineMomz, Green Halloween Daytona Beach @GreenHalloween1, Los Angeles Costume Swap @LACostumeSwap and Anna Clark @annaclark.

And, of course, me. I’m hosting as @TheSmartMama.

The prizes are as follows:

(1) Angell Organic Candy Bar sample pack including 2 bars each Crisp, Dark and Snow; an organic cotton t-shirt and assorted stickers generously donated by Angell Bars.

(2) A copy of the book “Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family” generously donated by mother-daughter founders of @GreenHalloween and @CostumeSwapDay.

(3)  Stretch Island Fruit Co. package consisting of 2 cases of 30 fruit strips – winner can choose 1 or 2 flavors from Stretch Island Fruit Co.

(4) 1 Lunchbots Pico, a stainless steel divided lunch container from LunchBots @Lunchbot.

(5) A treat from Honest Tea valued at $64.

(6) A Kiwi magazine subscription from Kiwi magazine.

(7) A Nature’s Path Specialty Gift Basket with a value of more than $100.

(8) Revolution Foods is generously giving away a case of 50 Jammy Sammys.

If you need information on Twitter parties, please check out this informative post.

The article discusses how our microbial systems – acquired beginning at birth – may help “steer normal development, molding immune sysetms and calibrating fundamental metabolic functions such as energy storage and consumption.” These systems may explain why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t.

Yet, we don’t understand these systems yet. And, our rush to use antibiotics, antibacterials, and heavy cleaning chemicals and even electric Caesarean delivery of babies may be disrupting nature’s balance, leading to a host of disease.

So, I was really struck by that the article just gives one more reason why not to use an unneccessary antibacterial such as Triclosan.

And I was also struck by the suggestive evidence that the use of antibiotics during pregnancy, as children and in our food may be leading to obesity. The research suggest that antibiotics may be killing off the bacteria needed to regulate the hormones which are key players in regulating metabolism, hunger and a sense of fullness.

And, I was also struck by the statement that one finding from the recent research is that babies born through Caesarean sections apparently miss out on acquiring their mothers’ microbiota. This may lead to certain diseases, such as perhaps asthma. This should be fodder for those women fighting for vaginal delivery after a Caesarean, and should at least be considered by those considering elective Caesarean delivery.

But I guess what mostly struck me is that you really can’t monkey around with Mother Nature.

But, in any event, I was curious whether recycled plastic items can have Microban in them if Microban was in the source plastic used. In my searching, I came across Westcott’s KleenEarth scissors for kids which use recycled plastic in the handles and recycled plastic in the packaging. And there are a bunch of different products in this line, all with Microban. BUT, the recycled plastic handles are treated with Microban. So doesn’t that completely defeat the green, earth friendly message? What do you think? Greenwashing at its finest?

As I explained in my post from yesterday, I think I’ll skip the unnecessary Microban containing products.

BPA is used in virtually all canned food and beverage linings and is also the basic monomer of polycarbonate plastic, which is used for food and beverage storage. If you want more information on BPA, you can check out my post on the basics of BPA. BPA is associated with endocrine disruption in animals and in some human studies. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an update on BPA in which it agreed with the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health that there is “some concern” about the potenetial effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children. Many scientists and researchers, however, are much less reserved when it comes to the safety of BPA, particularly for infants and fetuses, and urge complete avoidance of BPA in food and food contact items. 

DEHP is a phthalate commonly used to soften PVC plastic. It can be found in some plastic packaging used for food. It is also linked to endocrine disruption.

The study involved 5 families, with a total of 20 participants. In the study, over a 3 day period, the families ate food that was prepared and stored with minimal canned foods or plastic food packaging. During the three day period of minimal canned food and plastic packaging a caterer prepared and delivered food, avoiding foods packaged in plastic and canned foods. Urine samples were collected before (on days 1 and 2), during (on days 4 and 5), and after this “fresh food” diet. After the “fresh food” diet, the families returned to their normal diet, and urine samples were collected on days 7 and 8.

The urine samples were analyzed for BPA and 7 chemicals that assess for exposure to 5 different phthalates – DEHP (used in some food packaging), DEP, DBP, BBP and DMP.

The study results showed that while the families were eating the “fresh food” diet, their BPA levels dropped on average by more than 60%. For the three metabolites that were used to measured exposure to the phthalate DEHP, all 3 dropped by more than 50% during the “fresh food” diet. When the participants returned to their regular diets, BPA levels increased to approximately the pre-intervention levels.

So, what does this mean for you? That you can reduce your exposure significantly to BPA and DEHP by making dietary adjustments:

• Choose fresh, frozen, dried or glass jarred over canned foods.  Canned foods and beverages are a major source of BPA exposure for most people. As the study demonstrates, by eliminating canned foods you can significantly reduce your BPA exposure. There are some BPA free canned goods out there, such as Eden Foods canned beans. 
• Choose baby bootles, sippy cups and other food storage and serving pieces that are not made of polycarbonate plastic. 
• Choose soups, milk and soy milk packaged in cardboard “brick” carton or glass. 
• Skip water from those 5 gallon polycarbonate plastic bottles.
• Skip certain plastic wraps which can be PVC. Plastic wrap was first made of PVC. And, PVC remains the most common in food wraps used in catering and other commercial applications. However, many of the leading plastic wraps used in the home have switched to a PVC-free wrap, including Saran Premium, Glad Cling Wrap and Handi Wrap. They are made of low density polyethylene.
• If you buy soft cheeses and other products wrapped in a plastic wrap, remove the wrapping when you get home and store in glass or similar plastic free storage.

The complete study, entitled “Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention” by Ruthann R. Rudel, Janet M. Gray, Connie L. Engel, Teresa W. Rawsthorne, Robin E. Dodson, Janet M. Ackerman, Jeanne Rizzo, Janet L. Nudelman, and Julia Green Brody is available online.

Then, on top of that, you have Halloween makeup, which is frequently done as inexpensively as possible by companies that don’t really care about bad reactions because the products aren’t on the market long enough. So you  find not only hormone disrupting phthalates and carcinogenic compounds found in regular makeup but also often heavy metals such as lead and more.

So what’s a green mama to do to make her goblins, ghosts and witches eek-o-scary? Homemade, non toxic Halloween makeup of course!

EDIBLE GOOP (Wounds, Warts, and More)

My favorite homemade Halloween recipe is for “edible” goop. And while I describe this as edible you can eat it but it doesn’t taste all that great.

You can use edible goop to make scars, warts, wounds, etc.

To 1 oz. gelatin (not Jello, but plain, unflavored old-fashioned gelatin, usu. located right next to the Jello), add 2 tablespoons boiling water and stir, let sit for 3 minutes. As you stir, the gelatin will dissolve.

The picture shows the dissolved gelatin after sitting a bit.

Smart Mama Tip: The gelatin doesn’t smell all that great, so you can add 2 to 4 drops of an essential oil if your child doesn’t like the smell. Sweet orange essential oil is a good one to add. If you do add an essential oil, make sure it is suitable for skin contact.

Then pour mixture onto natural waxed paper or other surface. You need to shape the gelatin to make what you want – a wart, a scar, whatever. You need to work fairly quickly, particularly if you are going to mix in some color. The picture on the right is what the gelatin looks like when poured on natural waxed paper.

Add in what you need to create the effect that you want. If you want a wound, add some red coloring. If you want the wound to look old, consider adding some chocolate syrup. If you want a witch’s wart, add some green coloring and perhaps some hair (some bristles from a brush perhaps?). For a ghoulish effect, add cornstarch or flour. For a swamp thing, perhaps dill weed or tarragon. For dead skin, add oatmeal. Get creative! For the leech looking effect below, I added some instant coffee crystals and some brown coloring from water added to coffee crystals.

Let your creation cool and gently peel off the waxed paper.

Once dry, adhere using corn syrup – you just need to let the corn syrup dry.

You can scale up the batches as needed. These look best made the same day that you are going to wear them – they dry out and shrink a bit.

For cleanup of your bowl, just peel the gelatin out – it will all stick together. If some gets stuck, just use hot water to dissolve it a bit to get the dish clean.

HOMEMADE FACE PAINT

Homemade face paint is hard, I think. With pantry staples, I haven’t hit upon a successful recipe to give the same consistency as store bought face paint.

But, with homemade, you know what is in the stuff! No heavy metals, for one thing.

So, the usual recipe for “edible” face paint is 10 tsp cornstarch, 2 tsp white flour, 5 tsp vegetable shortening and 1/4 tsp vegetable glycerin. Mash together with a fork until the mixture balls up. Once this is mixed together, you can add a bit more glycerin as needed. This will make a white base. Separate into different white blobs and add the necessary color. I’ve made a tan (for a lion or cat) using some water collected from coffee crystals. This mixture is relatively “pasty” and will not give you clean lines, but it works. It is edible, although it isn’t very tasty.

Another option is to add basically equally parts lotion and cornstarch. For this recipe, I’ve used 1 tblsp Harley James baby lotion and 1 tblsp cornstarch. (I bought some of the Harley James to try but I still like my Earth Mama Angel Baby.)  The trick to this one is to have a lotion that you like to start – one that gets a 0 or a 1 over at Skin Deep’s cosmetic safety database. The white made with lotion will still be a little translucent, but if you make colors, it will give you cleaner lines, particularly if you use a comsetic brush to paint. Again, I’ve made a tan using water from water added to a few coffee crystals.

Another recipe is 3 tblsp cornstarch, 1 tblsp flour, 1/4 cup water and 3/4 cup corn syrup (light). The corn syrup makes this sweet, so it may be too attractive for little ones. To make this, add the cornstarch adn flour in a bowl. Stir in the corn syrup and water until smooth. Once it is mixed together, divide as needed and add colors.

FAKE BLOOD

For fake blood, use light corn syrup, a dash of castile liquid soap (to make clean easier), and red coloring. Easiest to use is red food color. If you want darker blood or more realistic blood, add a dash of blue or some chocolate syrup.

FAIRY GLITTER

Use aloe vera gel (you can get at almost any natural food store), and mix in some fine glitter. This should be kept away from the eyes. Alternatively, if you have some mineral makeup that you trust, you can use it as well.