What Plastics Are Safe?

 I was visiting with my daughter-in-law and she commented that she had changed out all of her drink containers to BPA free ones and felt her family was much safer now. I had just recently done some research into BPA and plastics and had some bad news for her.  I want to share with you, my friends what I found since plastics have come to the forefront of my mind recently. Our daughter was diagnoses with two cases of breast cancer and they are further investigating to see whether she has cancer elsewhere also. Her cancers are estrogen and progesterone fed and a source of imitation hormones is plastics.

 "We know that, "BPA causes hormone disruption, reproduction harm, increased risk of certain cancers, malformation of organs in children, risk of miscarriage, sperm defects, and increased risk of mental disabilities in babies. 93% of 2517 urine samples from people older than six years old showed detectable levels of BPA." A survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control  

The research is conclusive in the area of BPA and simply put, it is toxic. But what most don't know is that most companies have replaced BPA with BPS, which is just another bisphenol.

{In the case of BPS, there's reason to believe it is just as dangerous to human health, and possibly more so, than BPA, although the research is not nearly as abundant just yet. Writing in the journal Toxicology In Vitro, researchers stated:ⁱⁱ

"In 2011, the European Commission has restricted the use of Bisphenol A in plastic infant feeding bottles. In a response to this restriction, Bisphenol S is now often used as a component of plastic substitutes for the production of babybottles. One of the major concerns leading to the restriction of Bisphenol A was its weak estrogenic activity. By using two highly standardised transactivation assays, we could demonstrate that the estrogenic activity of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S is of a comparable potency."

Not only does BPS appear to have similar hormone-mimicking characteristics to BPA, but research suggests it is actually significantly less biodegradable, and more heat-stable and photo-resistant, than BPA. GreenMedInfo reports:

"... while regulators wait for manufacturers who promote their products with "BPA-Free!" stickers at the same moment that they infuse them with BPS to voluntarily reformulate,there isevidence now that BPS may actually have worse effects to environmental and human health, alike..

"... BPS' relative inability to biodegrade indicates: 1) once it is absorbed into the human body, it may accumulate there for longer periods of time. 2) it is more likely to persist in the environment, making external exposures to it, and its many metabolites, much more likely than the faster degrading BPA. In other words, its potential to do harm will worsen along the axis of time, not lessen, which is a common argument made for the purported "safety" of BPA."}http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/06/20/bpa-free-plastic-still-toxic.aspx}

So what we have here is a switcheroo. One bad guy in exchange for another bad guy probably worse than the first. The whole BPA free campaign has millions of Americans making the switch but are we are no safer than before. Disturbing isn't it?

So once again here is an example of where we have to protect ourselves because no one else is going to do it. But how? How does one tell for sure if they have a BPA containing plastic?
This is what Mayo's says:

{A resin code of 7 appearing on plastic containers indicates that the container may be made of a BPA-containing plastic.  It is a rounded triangle with a seven inside.
Some exploratory scientific studies have appeared in the public literature that have raised questions about the safety of ingesting the low levels of BPA that can migrate into food from food contact materials. To address these questions the National Toxicology Program, partnering with FDA’s NCTR, is carrying out in-depth studies to answer key questions and clarify uncertainties about BPA

The testing showed that more than 70 percent of the products released chemicals that acted like estrogen. And that was before they exposed the stuff to real-world conditions: simulated sunlight, dishwashing and microwaving, Bittner says.  Then, you greatly increase the probability that you're going to get chemicals having estrogenic activity released," he says, adding that more than 95 percent
of the products tested positive after undergoing this sort of stress.The team concentrated on BPA-free baby bottles and water bottles, Bittner says, "and all of them released chemicals having estrogenic activity." Sometimes the BPA-free products had even more activity than products known to contain BPA.
"We've long cautioned consumers to avoid extreme heat and cooling for plastics, to discard scratched and worn plastics and we feel like this [study] validates one of our many concerns," she says.}
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/bpa/faq-20058331

#5 Rubbermaid storage containers. Love these as the lids fit multiple sizes and they stack so nicely. I found the idea of Pinterest to use a tension rod to hold things in place in a drawer. LOVE IT!!

Here is a hint to whether a plastic may contain BPA. Hard plastic containers have a triangle with a number inside. If it is #3 or #7, it probably is made with BPA. Remember that heat, sunlight, or very cold temperatures causes greater release of BPA's in plastic so don't freeze or put plastics in the dishwasher.

The Green Guide, owned by The National Geographic Society devoted to greener living recommends plastics with the numbers #2, #4, and #5. I've just started checking in my own kitchen to see what numbers are lurking in my cupboards.

Another bad guy is Styrofoam.

This is what Green Guide has to say about it:
{Containers made of polystyrene (PS, or plastic #6, also known as Styrofoam) can also be dangerous, as its base component, styrene, has been associated with skin, eye and respiratory irritation, depression, fatigue, compromised kidney function, and central nervous system damage. Take-out restaurant orders often come in polystyrene containers, which also should be emptied into safer containers once you get them home.}

Once again a tension rod used to hold things in place. This idea is especially nice with drink containers.
There is no way to eliminate plastics from our society and why should we? I think a more sensible approach is to limit where and how we use them. The next blog talks a bit more about this and I will show you another place where food manufacturers are hiding BPA. But meanwhile tell me, how many of you were surprised by this information? I sure was.

The Birthing Process

Fresh milk!!! I am so excited. I can finally quit using frozen. Good thing because I'm about out. Yes, indeed Belle gave birth last Wednesday. Those of you who follow Easy Living the Hard Way Facebook page know this and have seen the photos but since this is an informational post, I've got lots to teach some of you. The rest of you can tell me if indeed this has been your experience. 

 But first let me introduce the oldest, a lovely young doe with great potential. She was born around two in the afternoon. The hour in which Belle had her first set of twins, five kidding seasons ago. Yes, a doe will normally have her kids within a three hour window of the first time she gives birth. If you know the day your doe bred and how many days that particular doe's gestation is, then you know when to head for the barn and keep a close eye out for possible complications. This has become more and more important as the years go by and my energy level keeps taking vacations. Getting up in the night for nothing makes getting up in the early morning to get grandkids off to school much more difficult than when I was young.

That means I have a tendency when possible to cull the night kidders. Two o'clock in the afternoon is perfect and that is just when Belle's had her first lovely little brown doe.

I was a little late for her arrival but hey, she was still all wet and slimy so it could not have been by more than a few minutes. I ran back for towels and the Betadine to do my job. I waited as mom and baby greeted each other and kept looking for the tell tale signs of the next arrival -- nothing. 'Well, this was getting ridiculous', I thought so I slipped under Belle and filled a baby bottle with colostrum. You can see there is no shortage of it. Look at that udder. I always make sure each kid gets as much colostrum as possible in them even if I am going to leave them to nurse their mother.  The only way to accurately gauge that is to bottle feed them the first time. After that I can teach them to nurse or let nature take its course. Yeah, like I've ever really done that. LOL "What if they get too weak or one of the other kids pushes them aside." See, I just can't take the pressure so I interfere. No one seems to mind.


This particular doe I leave her to mother the little ones but she is not keen on nursing. She was not taught to by her first owner and it did not come natural to her. In fact she would not even mother her kids until she came to my house. I started to teach her to suckle her little ones but then I thought I would like to keep some of her offspring and bottle feeding alleviates weaning problems. My does will nurse forever if given a chance and the kids can slip through the tiniest holes to get their moms so no, I don't let any little ones I want to keep nurse.  The other reason I bottle feed most of my kids is that they can go to new homes right away since feeding them does not require their mother.  This gives me the milk I need for the kitchen.


As I gauged whether I was going to keep this little one, I kept looking for sign of Belle being uncomfortable and pawing the ground but she was relaxed and happy. Relaxed and happy is not what I needed. You don't have this size of an udder and sides sticking wa... y out for nothing on a hay diet. There had to more kids inside. Each of our does will follow a certain pattern year after year that is characteristic of her as an individual when she gives birth. There are odd years of course when the doe refuses to follow her set pattern but for the most part she will do the same thing year after year.

I decided to just watch and wait. I would on a younger doe pull the rest of the kids I knew were inside if she was in hard labor and they failed to appear within twenty or thirty minutes. That or labor was not progressing along meaning a possible breach birth or two kids who's legs were tangled near the opening. The reason is if you wait too long the kids will be dead. But Belle was comfortable and relaxed and this was not her first kidding season. Experience has taught me after thirty one years of delivering kids and a gut feeling born of, been there done that's. This felt right and so I bent down and filled a bottle as she stood licking her baby. Milking stimulates uterus contractions. Sneaky aren't I?

 I've learned that with older does they often have a longer labor. More light labor in the beginning and a period of rest in between kids is common. More so between the first and second kid. The third follows shortly after. Patience is a virtue with these older girls. Sure enough, a little under an hour later Belle acted agitated and pawed the ground a few times and just three pushes later I saw.....

 The water bag with two feed inside. They are the dark mass just below her tail. Three pushes and out came a strapping buck. Most of the time a water bag appears first and then the feet but not with this doe. Five minutes later and three pushes, out came a little doe looking like her mother. Belle was done, she had her triplets.

How did I know she was done? Three kids is the normal max for a dairy goat. I've only had one doe have four. Four is too many since a doe rarely has enough milk for that many. Besides there are the pushier kids that hog all the milk. If left alone one or two of them will die.You don't want four. I did not expect four and besides, Belle's sides were sunk in in an empty look.

Some does take a while to pass their after birth but Belle's began to appear shortly after. This is what it looks like. No water bag, and no feet sticking out. Nope -- notice the fibrous texture though. This is the placenta and it has little buttons inside. No, not buttons like the ones on your coat but round dark red solid tissue masses that they call buttons. When I would be in charge of a mare foaling for our neighbors, I was required to count the buttons to make sure the mare had not retained part of her placenta. 

I admit, I never count the buttons in a goat's placenta. I have no idea how many there are suppose to be so how would I know if they are all there? The only thing I make sure of is that the goat does pass her placenta and hopefully in one long connected mass. It should of course be in proportion in size to the amount of kids it held. If it does not come out it putrefies. Big time infection. If ;your doe fails to pass hers within twelve hours I'd head to the vet for a Lutalyce shot. It will put the doe back into labor. She'll hate you but it is for her own good.  How do I know this -- experience.

Don't be alarmed, when your doe bleeds a light amount after giving birth. This can last for a few days and sometimes slightly longer in goats that had a tough delivery. To slow and stop the flow on a doe who is in my opinion bleeding more than I'd lie, I milk more frequently. This naturally tightens back up the uterus, stopping the flow. The larger the uterus size due to multiple kids, the longer it takes for the uterus to shrink back to pre-pregnancy size. If there is an infection, the bloody discharge after birth will become a more maroon color, not a red blood color. It will be thicker, and have a nasty smell to it. Then she needs a penicillin shot, a few of them.

I've taught my does to hold still without restraint in the pen and I bend over at will to fill baby bottles right from the tap. Since I bottle feed four times a day, 6 am, 12 noon, 6 pm, and 10 pm, this is plenty enough to get things cramping. With triplets, for the first few days where there is only colostrum being produced, this method empties my doe's utter each feeding. If there is extra like there was with Belle, I freeze it just in case I need it for kids born to another doe. At night I am sure to drain the doe fully before heading to bed.

 At five years of age, Belle was in light labor for several days after giving birth. She did not eat a great deal or drink much. Then on the third day, it abated and her milk began to come in. By the next day she was crying for relief in the morning. "Please milk me!!" 

She gave 3/4 a gallon this morning and the same amount tonight. Impressive for a Nubian on her first day of her milk coming in. Her supply will steady increase for a while before leveling off. The second morning, this morning, she gave the same amount. 

Remember, the more demand for milk, the more the doe will produce, within reason of course. This means milking three times a day produces more milk than milking twice a day and of course once a day. Milking frequently will up production but if sustained over a long period of time, this will decrease the longevity of your doe. Since I was gone much of yesterday, I only milked twice. Today, I will milk three times and give this poor girl some relief as her production should be greater yet.