What does BPA free really mean?
Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist. And I'm not. And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast that helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Okay, Jam. Today, we are doing plastics part 4.
Jam:Oh, dang.
Melissa:I wanted to do plastics part 4 return of the whatever. Like, return of the Jedi, return of the king, whatever.
Jam:Uh-huh. Those
Melissa:are all part threes, but they're good guys. You know? Yeah. The Jedi, the king, so I couldn't think of a good Plastics joke. I might have Oh, yeah.
Melissa:Had this same problem last time we did plastics.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:But it's plastics part 4 return of the bad guys.
Jam:Oh, dang it. So now. This is like revenge of the Sith again.
Melissa:Revenge of the Sith again.
Jam:It's like, what if after return of the Jedi, the Sith had another revenge?
Melissa:Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So Rebecca t emailed and asked, what does it mean for something to be BPA free?
Jam:Oh, nice.
Melissa:And that's a quick great question, Rebecca. I really appreciate it. So here we go. We're gonna do it. And the first question is, what is BPA?
Melissa:Okay. What does that even mean? Do you have an answer? Do you know anything about BPA?
Jam:I know just a little bit, but It's all really fuzzy. Like, I I think I just remember looking into it when Or maybe I I didn't even look into it on purpose, but I just was seeing a lot of messages about it when the rise of BPA free plastic was a thing.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And it was really important to I mean, they still put the sticker on Yes. Stuff, but it was a much bigger PR campaign at the beginning Yes. Of that. So that's that that's all I know. I don't know what it stands for.
Melissa:Okay. So So BPA is a molecule.
Jam:K.
Melissa:BPA stands for Bisphenol a. Mhmm.
Jam:Yeah. I would have not have gotten that right in a 1000000 years.
Melissa:No. Yeah. It doesn't really mean anything to people who haven't taken, like, an organic chemistry class per se.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But a phenol group is a benzene ring, which is a ring of carbons that has an alcohol group on it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And this has 2 of them. Biss in chemistry usually means 2.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And they're joined by this carbon in the middle, and that carbon has some carbon groups off of it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that doesn't really mean a ton. I don't think you need to learn that structure or anything unless you're wanting to be an organic chemist. That might mean more to you. K. But that's just what it is.
Melissa:It's a molecule. And what it's used for making is plastics. Okay. Now specifically polycarbonate plastic, and we've talked about plastics before.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Do you remember what plastics are?
Jam:I'm rather their polymer.
Melissa:That's right. And do you remember what polymers are?
Jam:They are a large molecule made up of Small molecules
Melissa:That's right.
Jam:Repeating
Melissa:Over and over.
Jam:Over and over.
Melissa:My favorite current favorite, I guess, visualization for this is if you had a necklace It's a long strand, but it's made up of a repeating unit
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Being a bead. So a bead over and over or a pearl. Yeah. So you have a necklace that's a long strand, but it's made up of, like, a pearl, pearl, pearl, pearl, pearl.
Jam:Right. Right. Right.
Melissa:So that is if you just have 1 single base unit. A base unit is called a monomer. So the pearl would be the monomer. Mhmm.
Jam:And
Melissa:it repeats over and over and over to make the Long chain.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:Sometimes, though, you have 2 different kinds of beads, 2 different kinds of pearls. Right. Say a white pearl and a pink pearl, a white pearl and a pink pearl, a white pearl and a pink pearl. Mhmm. That still makes a long chain of necklace.
Melissa:Right?
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So sometimes we have polymers that are made up of 2 different kinds of monomers.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So it alternate Between monomer 1, monomer 2. Monomer 1, monomer 2.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So BPA is used To make plastic with something else. So it'll be BPA, something else. BPA, something else. BPA, something else.
Jam:Got it. Okay.
Melissa:I think they usually use carbonate. That doesn't I don't think that other molecule matters too too much.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But They use a carbonate ion, and that's why it's called polycarbonate, I think.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:That was what I gathered based on what I looked at.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So that is BPA containing plastic. It's usually a polycarbonate plastic. And these plastics have a nice rigidity to them because of the BPA.
Jam:Got it. Got
Melissa:it. Just the way it Stacks, a type of polymer it forms, that's one of its properties is it's rigid.
Jam:And I think one of the things I used to think about, like, when I just saw the sticker BPA free, I don't think I realized that that's it's very much in that plastic. Like, it's repeating over and over and over and over.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Like, A very integral part of that kind of plastic when it's there.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:You know what I mean? Like, sometimes when say people say something is free, it kinda feels like maybe They just double checked to make sure there wasn't traces or something?
Melissa:Right. But BPA gluten free on corn chips.
Jam:Right. Right. Yes. Whereas, like, BPA, if it's gonna be in a plastic, It sounds like it's gonna be a really important part of it.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Got it. Got it.
Melissa:Okay. So there's BPA in these plastics, And they started to realize that, you know, plastic is strong.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It lasts a long time. That's part of the problem that we've talked about.
Jam:Yeah. Too long, some might say.
Melissa:Too long, definitely. But we also talked about how in the episode, why does the sunlight fade things
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That light, UV light, especially from the sun, can start to break down some of those bonds in polymers and pigments and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't break it down completely, but it can start to degrade it slowly. Uh-huh.
Melissa:Okay. So polycarbonate plastics can start to degrade in the sun and the heat, And that's where you get what's known as leaching. Okay. If you have excessive heat or light, The plastic will start to break down, and some of those BPA molecules that are part of a big polymer chain will start to break free.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It's hard to do that. We've seen polymers on our cast iron pans. You know, they form this nice coat. But even though they're a nice Strong layer of polymer, they can get chips in the armor. Right?
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So you get these small microscopic chips in the, Quote, unquote armor
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Start to break down the polymer, and then your BPA will come out into the wild.
Jam:Got it. Okay.
Melissa:So this is a problem because BPA is used a lot for Plastic food containers
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Water bottles Mhmm. And even as a lining as a resin lining on the inside of Canned foods.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So that they don't get that canned food taste. Yeah. It kind of protects them.
Jam:Okay. That's why I say don't to not to heat up the food in the can, I guess?
Melissa:Yeah. Because you're probably I'm assuming we'll talk about to avoid it, but I would assume that causes BPA to leach.
Jam:Yeah. Dang. Wow.
Melissa:Yeah. So And I wonder too how much of the cans are heated in transit Oh, yeah. Until some of that is leaching earlier on. Yeah. You're in the back of a hot car in Texas.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:That's gonna get warm.
Jam:Yeah. For real.
Melissa:Who knows, though? Yeah. So BPA leaks out into your food.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And BPA is what's known as an endocrine disruptor.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So it mimics estrogen and blocks estrogen receptors, which estrogen is A primary female hormone, but I believe it's present in all humans. Yeah. We all have testosterone. You know? Mhmm.
Melissa:So it can basically mess up your endocrine system.
Jam:Interesting. Okay. That sounds bad.
Melissa:It's bad. And they I didn't go into all the different details because school started this week, and I was running low on time. But it has Been labeled by Canada and Europe as toxic to humans.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And it's banned in Canada and Europe for use in baby bottle.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But it's not banned in the United States for Vivo bottles as far as I know.
Jam:Woah. Dang it.
Melissa:Yep. So you don't want long term exposure to BPA? Yeah. We're all getting long term exposure to BPA Mhmm. Whether we like it or not.
Melissa:Mhmm. And we know that because the 20,030,004 national health and nutrition examination survey, Which was conducted by the CDC, found detectable levels of BPA in 93 Sent Mhmm. Of 25 100 people that they sampled that were 6 years old and up.
Jam:Dang it.
Melissa:93% is a lot. Man. Also, how did those other 7% get out of it? Yeah. Seriously.
Melissa:They never eat from plastic ever. Yeah. Yeah. So once that started to come out, once we started to realize that BPA wasn't good for us and it was disrupting our body's functions, And it could be a carcinogen. It's definitely toxic.
Melissa:There's a lot of question marks around its safety. People started to make BPA alternatives. Okay. However, these alternatives are so similar to BPA structurally that they can also negatively impact your health.
Jam:Dang it.
Melissa:So to answer Rebecca's question, which What does it mean when my water bottle says BPA free?
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:It doesn't necessarily mean a lot. Yeah. It doesn't have BPA in it, but it might have something else that we don't 100% know.
Jam:Right. Right. Dang it.
Melissa:Which kinda reminded me of Teflon.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:They're they started to use a different precursor that wasn't the one that was super dangerous, but we didn't know the health effects of that one.
Jam:Yep. Mhmm.
Melissa:Yeah. But I will say that they there was 1 paper I read that suggested they disrupt different systems in your body. The different alternatives can disrupt different things. So it might be better to have one that's Not necessarily BPA because we're already getting a lot of exposure to that other places
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And kind of mitigate the risks by Getting different toxins so they don't build up.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:I don't know. That's off the cuff. That's me coming up with that just on my own.
Jam:Interesting. Dang, dude.
Melissa:Yeah. So BPA free means it's BPA free. They made a plastic with something other than Bisphenol a, But it doesn't necessarily mean it's safe.
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:So that's the basics of the answer to the question Of what is BPA and what does it mean if something's BPA free?
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Now if you wanna take a Stab at saying it back to me, then I'm gonna give you some tips on how to avoid BPA Exposure or minimize it, I
Jam:guess. Okay. So plastics are polymer as we talked about.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Polymers are a large molecule made up of small repeating molecules.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Sometimes it's the same molecule over and over and over and over.
Melissa:Yes. Yes.
Jam:Just a a a a a a a a or Yeah. Just pearl the same kind of pearl
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Over and over. In other cases, it's could be a combination of molecules, but still repeating.
Melissa:Yes. Still repeating.
Jam:A b a b a b a b or whatever. In the case of plastics, like our water bottles, many of them for a long time had one of the things be BPA Mhmm. In that repeating structure of the polymer. The other thing was carbonate?
Melissa:Yes. So that's why they're Called I think that's why they're called polycarbonates.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I'm assuming.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Who knows why things are named? I know there's a big Fancy naming structure, but the colloquial names for things are often very odd. Because even with Bisphenol a? I could never figure out what the a stood for. Yeah.
Melissa:Is there bisphenol b, c, or d?
Jam:Right.
Melissa:I did see one that said Spin all f's, I'm assuming there is, but who decided which letter goes where? Yeah. They couldn't find anything about it.
Jam:Interesting. So one of the things that I first think of is, like, almost more like this is probably the kid in me, but almost more like LEGO bricks.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Because of how it creates a strong thing. Or I guess you could say any kind of brick. But Yeah. If you if you just had, like, 2 different colors of LEGO bricks from like that.
Melissa:Yes. That's a very good That's a great visuals.
Jam:Because they like, obviously, they lock together and they're you create a strong thing.
Melissa:A strong network that's rigid, like a plastic water bottle or something. Thing.
Jam:Right. And so I guess the analogy can only go so far, but pretend maybe rather than 2 colors of LEGO bricks, as you add 2 different materials like that.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And in the case of water bottles, there's scenarios or any other positive thing that has BPA in it. Mhmm. There are situations that can Degrade the in sort of integrity of that polymer
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Where molecules from the polymer start to get into Whatever we're using it. Like, if we're putting water in it or we're just touching it a lot or whatever ways Yeah. Where the Makeup of that polymer can get into our system. Yes. And UV is one of the things that you said that we've talked about in the past that Yes.
Jam:Could easily cause that. And causes it in tons of stuff Yes. Where it affects and kind of breaks down stuff over time. And then we get it in our bodies, And it can affect our bodies in not good ways, like our Yes. Hormones and endocrine system and stuff.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And that, I think we can all agree, is not very good
Melissa:Not good.
Jam:And not something we want
Melissa:No. I don't want that.
Jam:On purpose. Is that right?
Melissa:That was great. Do you wanna talk about the new BPA free molecules?
Jam:Sorry. Yeah. I was like, Done, dude. Okay. So the downside of this BPA free thing, it's good that they figure out something else that's not BPA.
Jam:That's cool. I mean, definitely congrats to them for doing that, and thank you. But the downside is it is is just as possible. It's like they just traded out The 1 LEGO brick that was a problem Right. That was repeating in that wall of LEGOs, and they just put a different one in Yep.
Jam:Which is great. And those plastics seem to be performing similarly.
Melissa:Like For example, an Algene bottle
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Which I have similarly?
Jam:The exact same kind of bottle.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And the downside is that it seems It's not any more resistant to being, like, degraded and
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Broken down and whatever else by the many things of life, including UV
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:That can cause molecules from that polymer to get into what we drink
Melissa:To leach. Right.
Jam:And leech yeah. Leech into that stuff. So we've kind of traded BPA, which had a more certain effect. Right. We knew all the details.
Jam:We've traded it for something that is just sort of a question mark.
Melissa:Yeah. It
Jam:may or may not affect us the same exact way or different ways.
Melissa:But initial studies are not promising.
Jam:Right. And we don't We haven't really dodged a bullet. We've just changed which bullet might come our way.
Melissa:Right. Which might be better because less of the same thing is building up in your system, or who knows? You know, maybe some you're getting some estrogen blocking and then some doing some other kind of stress on your body. So
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:I think that was a good summary.
Jam:Dang, dude. That's kinda crazy, though. I mean, I feel like
Melissa:I know.
Jam:Whatever I I obviously didn't hear the second half of that when I first ever Cut wind of what BPA even was.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:I was just like, sweet. They figured that out before I even really knew what BPA was. They got it out of my water bottle? Great. Thanks, guys.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:But dang.
Melissa:It really is a bummer. And, honestly, very it's another one of those dark sides of chemistry. Oh, good. We came up we came up with BPA free. We don't know what this stuff does to you, but let's take a gamble, you know, like, when radium was being used to paint washes and stuff Like that?
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Hey. Maybe we should investigate this first.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough.
Melissa:It is tough. Okay. So Here are some recommendations from the CDC to minimize your exposure to BPA. Okay. Don't microwave plastic food containers.
Jam:K.
Melissa:Often, ones that say 3 or 7 on the bottom are going to have polycarbonate, which could leach BPA. Not all of them, but those are the most common ones to have it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I think especially 7. 7's sort of an other category for the recycle numbers.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So don't Just don't microwave plastic food containers at all just to be safe because you don't know what's in them.
Jam:Got it.
Melissa:Just invest in some nice glass food containers. Yeah. There's a lot of brands.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:The next thing is to reduce your use of canned foods.
Jam:K.
Melissa:Which is kind of a bummer because you can make canned soups pretty easily, and frozen foods often come in plastic bags too, so Who knows what they're doing to us?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. So
Melissa:but maybe try, if you can, to focus on fresh foods that are coming Not in any kind of plastic packaging.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But, yes, reduce your use of canned foods. I thought this was interesting. When possible, opt for glass, porcelain, or stainless steel containers.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Especially for hot food or liquids.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So if you're drinking coffee, which both Jim and I already do this Mhmm.
Jam:Opt for
Melissa:a Stainless steel to go container. Yep. Not especially not those cheapy plastic ones that you just can get for a dollar or thing.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:Those are much more likely to have something that you don't want leaching out into your food.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And coffee is hot. Yep. It also makes me wonder if I should get a glass water bottle.
Jam:I've wondered about that. I mean, I actually was just wondering the other day because I had a, stainless steel water bottle.
Melissa:I don't like how they taste.
Jam:And it was it I had used it enough to where it kind of stopped having that as much. Yeah. It was like the coffee container we talked about that we both drink out of Yes. Stainless steel that are vacuum sealed.
Melissa:They did an episode on those 2. Oh, yeah. That's right.
Jam:And I had it for a while, and then we moved, and I have not been able to find it. So I'm like, man, I don't wanna buy another one if I have that one somewhere. Yes. I got to a point where it it to me, it didn't taste bad. I just used it enough, I guess, and it kind of wore off, but I don't know.
Melissa:I will say too, though, I often leave My Nalgene bottle in the car Mhmm. In Texas Mhmm. Where it does the whole greenhouse effect situation. Yeah. We have not talked about that.
Melissa:Maybe we should do an episode on it. Yeah. And it gets Hot.
Jam:Oh, yeah.
Melissa:So that makes me wonder.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And there's a lot of UV rays that are hitting it in that situation.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:So that kind of got me questioning. But I'm I would break a glass water bottle, I think, really fast.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And I love Nalgene waters. They're very practical, but I do wonder if I should make the switch.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But we have done that for all of our Tupperware, quote, unquote.
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:I don't know the non brand name version of that, but where you pack your food to go for lunch or whatever, we switched dog glass for that. Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Nice.
Melissa:Take the lid off when you microwave it, all that.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:But I also wondered if using it in the dishwasher could cause BPA to leach. If it gets hot enough in the dishwasher. Yeah. So a lot of questions I have.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then the Very last one they recommend is to use baby bottles that are BPA free. Mhmm. So that that's 1. But then I wonder what else is in those b p BPA free baby bottles. And is there an alternative option at all for baby bottles?
Jam:Right. Right. Yeah. It's a good question.
Melissa:But I think starting with BPA free since we know it's toxic
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Getting rid of that is a good option.
Jam:Yeah. A 100%.
Melissa:So I thought that was interesting. Also, one more aside that I thought was cool is there's a lab at UT Austin that works Specifically on the endocrine system, and they tested the VPA leaching of some different water bottles. And interestingly, They had a green algae in water bottle, and the green pigment, whatever they used
Jam:to
Melissa:make it turn green, absorbed enough of the UV rays that it mitigated that BPA leaching. So that was really interesting. He did caution, don't just go Buy a bunch of green Nalgene bottles because they could use a different pigment now than they used to. You know?
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:It's not
Jam:like it's a license to say, like, oh, this is fine.
Melissa:Yes. But it gave me an idea of seeing if my Nalgene or your Nalgene we have a bunch of friends with Nalgene and water bottles.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Lining them all up and putting do you remember those beads that would change color in the sun?
Jam:Uh-uh. I don't think so.
Melissa:Maybe because you did Let you didn't have sisters or anything.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Less less girly things, I guess, quote, unquote, as a not that we should gender all of that, but Less things that involve necklaces and beads, I think, are given to boys, but I was given a beading necklace set that had
Jam:They
Melissa:call them solar beads
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And they literally change color in UV light.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:So we could get some of those beads and see if their color changes.
Jam:Mhmm. Yeah. Be yeah. And then put them in the each time we're not putting it in the bottle?
Melissa:Put them in the Nalgene bottle And then have 1 out just in a regular container or a clear now, Jane, if we can get one for
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:A control group and then just seeing how much their Color changes.
Jam:That'd be interesting. Let's do it. Why not?
Melissa:That would be so fun. So maybe we'll do that on a chemistry at home episode or something. Yeah.
Jam:It'd be at least, like, a little bit of a I obviously wouldn't be very scientific in terms of numbers
Melissa:of Right. Right.
Jam:Right.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Much is getting through, but it it would at least tell us if it's getting through Some water bottles more than others Yes. Or something like that.
Melissa:And I will say I was personally inspired by that when I was judging a science fair competition. Uh-huh. And someone used those beads in ziplock bags with sunscreen sprayed or smeared on them. Oh. We tried to determine which sunscreen was the best, so that was really fun too.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I was very impressed with that. So Yeah. We can take an adaptation of that and see if our Nalgene bottles do that.
Jam:Very cool. Yeah.
Melissa:So I thought that was fun. So that's it. That's our new bummer. Chemists are messing with stuff all over again. Mhmm.
Melissa:Return of the dark side of chemistry. So I wanted to share that with you. That was a great question, Rebecca. Thanks for inspiring me with that question. To cheer us up, do you have something fun from your week that you wanna share with us, Jam?
Jam:I do. Yes. I have a cute little Small but very cool one is that this last week, my son started The first little bits of wanting to walk. Oh my gosh. He'll only take 2 to 3 steps at a time.
Jam:Mhmm. They're the babiest, tiniest, idiot, bittiest steps. They are not, like yeah. He he's not Yet figuring out the balance enough to move his foot pretty far.
Melissa:He's kinda just would you spend so much energy learning how to walk when crawling is faster and
Jam:is here. Totally. Yep. And he's really fast at at it. You don't have to balance when you're crawling, really.
Jam:I mean, the balance is so much easier because you're on all fours.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:So many reasons that crawling is preferable.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But we've been able to coax him into taking a couple steps. Yay. And they're just kind of it's almost like to him just scooting his foot Across the floor?
Melissa:Yes. Not
Jam:really, like, a a significant picking up and placing it back down.
Melissa:Oh my gosh. That's so exciting.
Jam:And then he'll think, oh, wait a second. I actually could get to them much faster by crawling, and then he'll give in to crawling.
Melissa:So Right.
Jam:It's just fun to watch him learn stuff and always because Yeah. It doesn't feel like very long ago that he couldn't even crawl very well. You know, things like that that
Melissa:Also helps kids learn how to do such complicated things. Walking is easy to us, but if you think about how many different things your brain has to coordinate to move all at once Yeah. It's a hard skill to learn. Yeah. Yep.
Melissa:Similar to potty training.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Yeah. Recognizing the sensation Yeah. Being able to control your muscles. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:I'm amazed by all of that.
Jam:Yeah. A 100%. But, dude, what about you? What's happened in your week?
Melissa:Well, I kinda have a sad one, but with a happy a silver lining.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So I was sick, I mentioned, the week before school started, not COVID, got tested. Yeah. And then, Of course, living in close quarters with someone, pass that along to my husband.
Jam:Mhmm. So
Melissa:now he's been sick this past week. Yeah. So we had a a lot of big plans last weekend instead of doing any of them. This part was kind of nice. We just only laid around and watched Lord of the Rings together, all of the exhibit versions, And those movies hold up.
Jam:Oh, yeah, dude. 100%.
Melissa:Really fun. I really enjoyed it, and they give us something to do, you know, when you're just Sick and bummed, and you don't wanna do anything. Yeah. Yeah. And it was nice.
Melissa:Last time he was sick, I couldn't see him, couldn't take care of him because we're quarantine quarantining for each other because of COVID.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And so it was also kinda nice be able to take care of the person that you care about when they're not feeling good.
Jam:Yes. Yep.
Melissa:So it was kind of a bummer to get hit with that right before the busiest time of my year. Uh-huh. But it was really nice also to just be able to lay around and recover and watch a good old movie and just spend some quality time Yeah. Doing basically nothing Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Together. Yeah. Totally. So that was kind of a nice thing from That came out of a less good thing.
Jam:Good. Good. Yeah. It can kind of at least tide you over well.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:You're not thinking it's nice to have something that's Sort of enjoyable to do.
Melissa:Yeah. You can kind of look forward to it. Yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of good.
Melissa:But he's actually feeling better back at work, and There's always that good feeling when you're healthy again, how much you don't appreciate breathing out of both your nostrils and not being exhausted all the time. Yeah. Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Totally.
Melissa:Great. Well, thanks for coming and learning about BPA and its sort of sad replacement situation, But I really enjoyed learning about it, and the more you know, the more power you have.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:So keep those especially for tea and coffee. Try not to leave Your water bottle out in the car, keep them cool.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Keep them out of the sunlight, and protect yourself from BPA.
Jam:Well, dude, thanks for teaching us all about that. Very important. Very applicable to our everyday.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Many of us are hopefully drinking water everyday. Some Please. In some way. Also do. Many of us drinking coffee out of something.
Jam:We're all drinking something out of something.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And we gotta we gotta be aware of that stuff.
Melissa:So Yeah. Definitely.
Jam:Thanks for teaching us. And Melissa and I have a lot of ideas just like this, of topics chemistry in everyday life. But we wanna hear from you. Questions like the one we got from Rebecca about BPA help us to create episodes that are relevant to you and explain chemistry for your everyday life. So Please reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at Kim for your life.
Jam:That's Kim, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas. If If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, go to kodashfi.com/ Cheme for your life and donate the cost of a cup of coffee. If you're not able to donate, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jame Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes and on our website. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to s Navarro and a Heffner who reviewed this episode.
