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SafeMama Had A Dream

By Kristie Turck •  Published 03/05/09 •  3 min read

Last updated on August 19th, 2022 at 10:47 pm

I was browsing through a Babies R Us catalog that came in with the mail this morning over breakfast.  I turned to a page advertising baby bottles and splashed big across the top of the page it said BPA FREE!  I had a little moment and I wanted to share it here.

A little over a year ago when I started this site, I remember feeling so many things about the information I had discovered.  I was pissed off! I was angry and I also had some guilt because I had unknowingly used products with my son that I later found to have long term effects on him.  It saddened me a great deal that I had found out “too late” and that all the time I thought I was doing all the right things, I was doing all the things I wouldn’t have done if I knew what I know now.

My goal, when I opened up SafeMama.com was to hopefully help another parent avoid those feelings. I wanted to give them the knowledge I didn’t have.  I imagined how great it would be if one day all parents could go to the store and buy a product and without knowing what phthalates or BPA were, and still walk out with something safer in their cart.  To walk the bottle aisle and have every single baby bottle and cup be BPA Free.  And here we are a year later and that is slowly becoming a reality.  This makes me so happy and proud of all of us.

Granted, we’re not there yet.   There is still work to do.  And it frustrates me that stores and big companies still produce products with potentially harmfully chemicals in them.  It also makes me grind my teeth that stores do the things they do because of sales more so than their conscience.  But, I feel as though as parents we are all a little smarter, a little more savvy and that now, we have become a real force of nature regarding products our children use.  We have influence.

Perhaps we all have a mini degree in chemistry now and carry pocket guides detailing chemicals to avoid in our wallets, but we’re taking better control over what we want.  They listened.  We have really changed the world in just one year and I credit that to all the parents who called these companies along with us to demand answers.  To demand safer products.  And we’re slowly getting them.   A year ago people didn’t know what BPA was and now they have signs in every store bragging “BPA FREE!!!”.  I think we should not ever underestimate the power of a parent again.  So thank you to everyone who even in some small way contributed to this growth.  For reading this site and all the other sites like it, and for helping us make this progress.

Its happening in baby steps, but its happening. My next mini-dream is to walk the formula aisle and see “BPA FREE” on the packaging of every single baby formula brand.  Let’s make that happen too.

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