In what could be the first sign that the baby bottle market is awakening to the BPA threat to their bottom line, polycarbonate baby bottle stalwart Dr. Brown’s today announced they are coming out with a glass version of their popular bottle. Kudos the Zrecs blog for breaking the news.
Dr. Brown’s Scott Rhodes tells Zrecs it plans to sell the glass bottle along side with the polycarbonate (it is NOT replacing the polycarbonate version) . . . but this is a major step, since Dr. Brown’s is among the best-selling polycarbonate bottles on the market (Avent is #1. Earth to Avent, are you listening?).
Of course, the folks at Dr. Brown’s are probably aware of the fact (reported here among elsewhere) that their nipples work with Evenflo’s glass bottles (even though this requires a bit of trimming of their trademark tube).
Bottle makers are now in a classic Catch 22—they can’t admit there is any problem with BPA (see our discussion earlier of the bottle controversy). But they certainly don’t want to see their sales evaporate, as more consumers migrate to non-BPA bottles.
Example: Babies R Us tells the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel this week that they have seen a" significant increase" in glass baby bottles nationwide. And BRU is training all its associates to point out BPA-free bottle alternatives when asked.
(By the way, a special shout-out to News-Sentinel reporter Jennifer Boen for her excellent sum-up of the concerns with polycarbonate bottles—impressive!).