Truthound LLC, a Seal Beach maker of personal health information products, recently announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to fund BPA Scout, the world’s first and only instant BPA detector.
“As the father of two small children, I’m constantly on the lookout for products that contain ingredients or chemicals that might be harmful,” said Marc Cortez, president and co-founder of Truthound LLC. “But up until now, there has been no way to instantly test for BPA. BPA Scout solves this problem in a quick, disposable, color-changing product.”
Bisphenol-A, a chemical additive that’s used to harden plastics, has been so controversial and of such concern that the FDA banned its use in baby bottles and other products. Despite the ban, it’s still used in thousands of products, ranging from canned foods, drink liners, CDs, DVDs, and sports water bottles. While many of those products have BPA-free labels on them, there are thousands of products that don’t.
Similar to a home pregnancy test that changes color when it’s activated, the BPA Scout swab changes color when it touches BPA. Simply rub the swab against any item, touch it to the activation spot, and watch for the color change. Red means that the product contains BPA, while green means that the product is without BPA.
“We developed the science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo two years ago, and received some early funding to help us commercialize the product. So when a component supplier could not deliver a critical item for us, we needed a way to quickly fund the company to the next level. We felt that a crowdfunding campaign using Kickstarter was the perfect way to quickly bring BPA Scout into the market,” said Cortez.
Kickstarter is an online community that allows people to fund projects that interest them. To contribute to BPA Scout’s Kickstarter campaign, go to: http://tinyurl.com/bpascout.
