By Laure Latham
Six things you’ll want to think about when it comes to lunch:
• Check for “lead safe,” or even better, “lead free” labels.
• Check for “PVC-free,” “Vinyl-free” or “phthalates-free” labels
• If you find none of the above, avoid soft vinyl bags and avoid bags with additional chemicals such as anti-bacterial claims (Microban is one of them)
• If your chosen bag offers no labels, store or wrap all your child’s food individually to avoid contact with the interior lining. Remind your kids to wash their hands before and after lunch.
• To reduce waste, choose re-usable containers and use your own silverware and napkins.
• Don’t refill disposable water bottles. The best choices are stainless steel reusable water bottles.
Want to know more? Here are the nitty gritty details:
Why Lead-Free Should Be Top of Your List
“There is no safe level for lead with children,” says Tracey Woodruff, Associate Professor and Director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences of UCSF. “In terms of ranking of potential sources of exposure, it might not be as high a concern as other sources, but we don’t know how children are handling their lunch bags, and it’s better to choose the safest alternative.”
In 2005, the Center for Environmental Health, or CEH, found lead in the PVC (vinyl) lining of several lunch-box samples it tested. As a neurotoxin, lead can have severe consequences on a child’s development. In the case of lunch bags, this is not going to happen overnight because children are only exposed to small amounts of lead through their hands (by holding the bag) or through their food if it’s stored unwrapped inside the bag. However, repeated exposure over time can cause enough lead to accumulate in a child’s body to cause problems.
For a list of manufacturers who have agreed to produce lead-safe lunch boxes, check out the CEH’s website.
If you already own a soft vinyl lunch bag and want to find out if it contains lead, you can use a special lead swab such as the LeadCheck test kit. These kits are available mostly under $10 at hardware stores or pharmacies.
Avoid Vinyl or PVC
PVC (or vinyl) is often referred to as the poison plastic because its production is incredibly polluting and because it includes toxic chemicals such as phthalates and lead. These chemicals can in turn leach out or evaporate and affect your child’s health. So whenever you can, avoid PVC in your child’s life.
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) has created the first-ever Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies so you can make smarter and healthier shopping choices for your kids, family and environment. You can download it online here.
Also, the CEH has put together a list of manufacturers offering vinyl-free lunchboxes*:
• Reusablebags.com offers several vinyl-free lunchboxes: 
• Organic and regular cotton bags:
"Lunchbugs" cloth lunch bags
CoolTotes insulated bags
EarthPak bags made from recycled soda bottles
SIGG Kids Bags
Lunch Pak by Fleurville
Laptop Lunch Kit
byo lunchbag® by BuiltNY
• World of Good offers a hand-woven reed lunchbox and is committed to fair trade.
• Mimi the Sardine offers vinyl-free water-proof lunchbags online.
• Progressive Kid offers EarthPak bags for sale on their website and are committed to social responsibility and environmental awareness.
*This list is not necessarily all-inclusive.
The Germs War
When cruising the lunch bag aisle of your favorite store, you may notice that some of them feature anti-bacterial protection with messages such as “Microban built-in protection” or “Microban interior lining.” Microban is a brand that engineers anti-bacterial chemicals designed to get rid of unwanted germs and nasty smells.
Do you really want to add chemicals to your children’s life? Rebecca Sutton of the Environmental Working Group recommends avoiding substances that claim to be antibacterial because you don’t know what you’re exposing your child to and because such substances are unnecessary. “Anti-bacterial products are unnecessary because soap does as good a job without anti-bacterials,” confirms Sarah Janssen of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In fact, the EWG, together with the Sierra Club and several other environmental and public health agencies filed comments on July 8, 2008 with the Environmental Protection Agency, urging it to reconsider its risk-assessment of non-medical uses of a type of antibacterial called Triclosan, one that can be used by Microban.
If you look closer, you will learn that Triclosan is present almost everywhere in consumer items, from toothpastes to antibacterial soaps, and fabrics to toys.
The above-mentioned groups claimed that “Triclosan and its degradation products bioaccumulate in humans, are widely found in the nation's waterways, fish and other aquatic organisms, and because of triclosan’s proliferating uses, are linked to bacterial resistance, rendering Triclosan and antibiotics ineffective for critical medical uses. The chemical and its degradates are also linked to endocrine disruption, cancer and dermal sensitization.”
So as always with any chemicals, caution should be your guide. As Dr. Gina says about the uses of Microban on Simple Steps.org, “Remember, not all bacteria is bad!”
Packing Food
The last item on the parents’ list will be to find safe food containers for roughly 180 school days this year. The ideal candidate is a reusable phthalates-free and bisphenol A-free container that fits a sandwich or that can store fruit, cut veggies, yogurt or grain (for more on phthalates or bisphenol A, see the article “How Green Is Your Rubber Ducky?”). Leak-proof would be nice too.
To avoid any complications, some parents swear by custom solutions such as the Laptop Lunch Box, a westernized bento-style box with bisphenol-A-free polypropylene square boxes and lids, and a phthalates-free carrying case.
Other solutions include the Wrap-N-Mat PEVA- or LDPE-lined wraps, a good solution to wrap sandwiches, or Ms Bento and Mr Bento stainless steel lunch jars with polypropylene inside containers that involve stacking round recipients in a vacuum insulated jar. See the CEH’s list of vinyl-free lunchboxes for more details.
For low-cost alternatives, Thermos manufactures small stainless steel food jars for children called “Funtainers” and all regular grocery stores sell food-safe re-usable plastic containers from brands such as Glad or Reynolds. As long as these containers bear the numbers 1, 2, 4 or 5 on the bottom, they are safe plastics and can be used for food purposes. You will find no phthalates or bisphenol-A there.
Go For Waste-Free Lunches and Save Money
If you want to go the extra mile and reduce waste as well as commit to your child’s health, the website Waste Free lunches provides guidelines to pack waste-free lunches and start waste-free lunch programs at schools. Using reusable containers and avoiding single-serve packages also makes financial sense as larger quantities are cheaper by the ounce than smaller quantities.
This is Waste Free lunches' example of what a waste-free packed lunch looks like compared to a typical packed lunch.
A Typical American Lunch (DISPOSABLE)
• sandwiches sealed in plastic bags
• fruits and vegetables in plastic bags
• prepackaged chips, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, cheeses, and fruit leathers
• prepackaged yogurts, applesauces, and puddings
• crackers, pretzels, chips, and other snack foods sealed in plastic bags
• disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, soda cans, water bottles, and milk cartons
• plastic forks and spoons
• paper napkins
• reusable lunchboxes and disposable paper and plastic bags
A Waste-Free Lunch (REUSABLE)
• sandwiches and other main dishes, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and treats in a reusable lunch container
• cloth napkins
• stainless-steel forks and spoons
• reusable drink containers
• reusable lunchboxes
*With this type of lunch, lunch food items can be bought in larger quantities. The packaging can be left at home for reuse or recycling. Waste-free lunches are not only a wise environmental choice, but they are less expensive as well.
Check out the locally-based company KidsKonserve.com for great reusable lunch box options.
One Last Word
Armed with these facts, you may now go ahead with your back-to-school shopping, but in case of doubt, use your common sense. Before buying sophisticated gadgets, you may already have the perfect lunch kit at home.
About Laure Latham: Feature writer and aspiring children’s book author, Laure Latham Guyot is the editor of the Golden Gate Mothers' Group’s newsletter. On an on-going basis, Ms. Guyot also writes for www.sfkids.org
in San Francisco and BAMBI magazine in Bangkok, Thailand. She has published articles on historical architecture for Heritage News, the newsletter of San Francisco Architectural Heritage and docents for school groups at the Haas Lilienthal House Museum. For more on Ms. Guyot, visit her blog at www.frog-mom.blogspot.com
. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and their two daughters.