6th May 08

STATEMENT FROM DR BROWNS

As distributors of the Dr. Brown’s Natural Flow baby bottles in the UK, we are aware of the BBC and other media reports with regards to various polycarbonate baby bottles. We now provide some information below in order to inform consumers better about the recent media reports focusing on Bisphenol A (BPA) and polycarbonate.

Firstly, please be assured that all Dr. Brown’s baby bottles are safe for feeding your baby. As a respected and responsible manufacturer, Handi-Craft (the owners of Dr Brown’s) constantly test every aspect of our bottles to ensure they meet all quality and safety standards and regulations in the UK, the U.S. and around the world. In fact, our Dr. Brown’s bottle passes the stringent European Union EN14350 test for BPA content with an ND or “Not Detected” rating, well below the EU limit of detection.

There is an overwhelming body of scientific evidence that supports their safety. Polycarbonate plastic is authorized for food and drink contact application by government agencies worldwide. Polycarbonate contains miniscule amounts of BPA, which has been extensively studied and tested for health and safety by both manufacturers and government agencies. These tests have demonstrated that consumer exposure to BPA does not pose a risk to human health, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and governmental and regulatory bodies worldwide continue to support the use of polycarbonate plastic.

We are comfortable with the enormous and long-standing body of scientific evidence from around the world that deems polycarbonate plastic to be safe for use with baby bottles, and for this reason we do not offer refunds or exchanges.

What is Bisphenol-A?

Polycarbonate plastic is a lightweight, high-performance plastic that possesses a unique balance of toughness, optical clarity, high heat resistance, and excellent electrical resistance. Because of these attributes, polycarbonate is used in a wide variety of common products including digital media (e.g., CDs, DVDs), electrical and electronic equipment, cars, sports safety equipment, reusable food and drink containers, components of many life-saving medical devices and many other products.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical building block that is used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins.

Polycarbonate is safe

From an emotional point of view what really concerns parents is the question whether leaching from polycarbonate bottles causes harm.

Polycarbonate is not banned in any country in the world. There have extensive studies on the effects of BPA by regulatory and independent agencies worldwide, such as the Norwegian Food Authority, the European Food Safety Authority and the United States Food Standards Agency.

• Just a few months ago, in January 2008, the FDA reconfirmed its long standing view regarding the safety of polycarbonate for food contact, including baby feeding bottles. The FDA continuously reviews the safety of BPA and recently completed a review of available data obtained from animal studies, and migration studies. Based on the results of those latest migration studies conducted by the FDA, they concluded that the “dietary exposure to BPA is orders of magnitude below the levels known to cause toxic effects in animals.”
  
  
• The Norwegian Food authority said in November 2007: Baby bottles made of Polycarbonate are safe. Link: http://matportalen.no/Filer/fil_071101_Baby_bottels.pdf
  
  
• Various other international regulatory agencies responsible for consumer protection, such as the British Food Standards Agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Japanese Ministry of Health have all studied the use of BPA and concluded that it can be safely used in the manufacture of baby bottles.
  
  

Dr Brown’s is committed to providing the best possible baby bottles to parents.

We hope this information is helpful. For more information you can visit the following useful links:

http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/other/141

http://www.bisphenol-a.org/about/faq.html#j

http://www.jpma.org

http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.1628/healthissue_detail.asp

http://www.babybottle.org

http://www.coalitionforconsumerchoice.org

http://www.plasticsinfo.org/babybottles/index.html

http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.1033/pub_detail.asp

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=876d06fa-66a4-4376-8096-7076ce2b1fdb&p=1

http://www.bisphenol-a.org/whatsNew/20060505.html

http://www.acsh.org/publications/pubID.1429/pub_detail.asp

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178620835386.htm