Nicholas Kristof has a column in Sunday’s New York Times about bisphenol A.  You’ve heard about it — it’s the stuff that’s in almost everything — everything plastic, or so it seems — including baby bottles, which is prompting some people to throw out their plastic bottles and replace them with metal ones. Kristof: “In my family, we’re cutting down on the use of those plastic containers that contain BPA to store or microwave food, and I’m drinking water out of a metal bottle now.”

The stuff may indeed be dangerous, but I’m afraid Kristof may be leaving himself open to caricature. For my part, slave to the nanny state that I am, I’ll wait until the gummint bans it or otherwise confirms its danger before I go about disposing of every plastic item in my little household. There are limits to how progressive and forward-thinking one can be. If I were meticulous about considering the dietary advice offered by locavores  and “foodies,” the time commitment would seriously compromise my ability to produce this website. A similar problem would arise, were I to attempt seriously to reduce my “carbon footprint.”  I tell myself that no single individual can save the planet by ceasing to drive. I’ll have to reduce my miles driven, along with everyone else, if such a thing is mandated by changes in government policy or the marketplace for energy.

All that is not to say that bisphenol A may not pose a serious danger. It’s just that, in this day and time, we can count on someone — actually, several “someones,” more than likely, bankrolled by vested interests in many cases — to try to debunk the danger. More than likely, they’ll try to compare it to the scare over Alar in apples, 20-odd years ago.

That’s what I’d be worrying about if I were Nicholas Kristof. In fact, if I were trying to make a living by making book, I think I’d offer a betting line about exactly when John Stossel will produce a debunking piece about bisphenol A for Fox Business Network. The question would be whether this will come in over or under 30 days….