Goodbye Melamine

Do you remember last year when dogs and cats were getting sick and dying from pet food containing melamine?  How about earlier this year when you heard about the babies in China who got sick, or even died from drinking formula containing melamine?  Melamine is an organic compound that has been found in dog food, baby formula, Mr. Brown coffee, and your melamine dishware. Yikes!

Melamine is a chemical that is used to make all sort of things; plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, and has been added to milk products to falsely increase the level of protein.  It can cause kidney stones, and kidney failure.

According to SafeMama, it is often combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a synthetic polymer that is fire resistant and heat tolerant.  A report from the National Toxicology Program states:

Melamine resin, a hard thermosetting polymer made from melamine and formaldehyde, is widely used in the US in the form of kitchenware, including plates, bowls, mugs and utensils. Reports in the literature indicate that some kitchenware based on melamine resin leach considerable amounts of melamine monomer. A migration of up to 2.5 mg melamine/ 100 cm2 was observed under conditions that simulate an exposure to hot acidic foods…

The FDA recently announced that there is no safe level of Melamine in baby formula, so I’m thinking I don’t want my kids to be eating off of it either!  So yes, I am again telling you that I’m riding my house of something potentially toxic.  Goodbye Melamine!

If you’re not ready to say goodbye yet, (or maybe your kids aren’t), then here are some tips to be a little safer:

• Don’t ever microwave, heat, or boil the dishware
• Always hand wash with mild soap
• Use them in the “play” kitchen, bathtub, or sandbox

Sources: SafeMama, Healthy Child Healthy World