Heart of Glass

Wracked with plastic-bottle worries, parents turn to an old standby

Anxious parents are snatching up glass baby bottles after a February report showed that plastic bottles can contain bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics estrogen. One website saw about a tenfold increase in glass-bottle sales before running out; a company in Ohio got 300 glassy-eyed orders the day the report surfaced and saw one bottle's monthly sales rise from the usual 60 to 600 in March. "When parents get ready to have a kid, they put plastic covers on the outlets, they test their walls for lead paint, they get the right kind of crib," says Dan Jacobson of Environment California, which issued the report. "Then you find out the baby bottle, of all things, is a problem." Reps for the plastics industry say low levels of BPA exposure are no big deal, and point out that glass breaks; American Chemistry Council spokesperson Steve Hentges says parents are "arguably being misled into buying products that may not be as safe." Are we the only ones picturing Dan Aykroyd and his Bag O' Nails?