. . . "BPA, or Bisphenol A, is a chemical that mimics estrogen, so even tiny amounts can do serious damage, since our bodies don???t know the difference between small amounts of BPA and the real hormone. (Origins by Annie Murphy Paul explains this and lots of other complicated science very neatly.) It???s used in some plastics to make them shatterproof but gets released when the container is cleaned too" . .