Nalgene pulling bisphenol-A polycarbonate bottles off market

[ALGonquin Bob]

According to Nalgene (http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/technical/materials/index.html), you can put boiling water in their HDPE or Tritan bottles. Temp ranges:
HDPE: -100C (-148F) to 120C (248F)
Tritan: -40C (-40F) to 100C (212F)

Their polycarbonate bottles are also rated to handle boiling water, but will leach fairly large amounts of BPA into the water.

Doug

Umm, thanks. Not sure what you're trying to say, but that's why I bought the new (Tritan) Nalgene bottles...

 

[BlackBuffalo]

HDPE is only $6.50 http://www.rei.com/product/402049

Doug

Thanks for the info Doug.

 

[rup]

Bottles within which water is packaged at the retail store (eg, Poland Springs) still works for me.

 

[DougPaul]

Bottles within which water is packaged at the retail store (eg, Poland Springs) still works for me.

Those are made of PETE (symbol #1). Supposedly they are hard to keep clean and are not recommended for reuse. (Consumer Reports is one source of this info.)

PETE can leach DEHP into the water. At least one source claims DEHP is a "probable human carcinogen", other sources claim the amount released is safe and that reused bottles release no more than new bottles and the bottles are safe with proper washing. Sound familiar? ...

Bottled-water bottles are of a very light construction and in my experience are easily damaged and often leak after after being carried in a pack for a few days. Soda bottles are also made of PETE but have a heavier construction and last much longer in my pack.

FWIW, I use soda bottles (with plastic caps) in summer and Nalgene HDPE bottles in winter. (Nalgene wide-mouth lids are polypropylene.)

According to http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/plastic_bottles.htm and http://www.thegreenguide.com/buying-guide/plastic-containers high density polyethylene (HDPE, #2), low density polyethylene (LDPE, #4), polypropylene (PP, #5), aluminum, and stainless steel are safe. (Note: aluminum is corroded by acids (eg fruit juices) and some stainless steels are corroded by salt (eg electrolyte drinks).)


Plastic recycling symbols:
http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/cryptic.html
http://www.recyclenow.org/r_plastics.html
(Note that #7 is a catch-all and includes more types than just polycarbonate.)

Doug

 

[Stash]

I'll have to pass all this information on to a co-worker. He's a fanatic about BPA and got rid of the old Nalgene he used to drink his water (run through a Brita filter) as soon as he heard about it. He never goes anywhere without his water; even out on his hourly cigarette breaks.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Another reason (for men) not to use BPA based bottles!

 

[Little Rickie]

Another reason (for men) not to use BPA based bottles!

No big deal. At my age I'm just glad the equipment works , who cares if I'm shooting blanks.

I drink more out of beer bottles than water bottles anyhow.

 

[mookie]

Another reason (for men) not to use BPA based bottles!

you make it sound like that is a bad thing tom!
i can think of plenty of people who should have drinken out of BPA bottles more often!

 

[roadtripper]

For those interested, here's an excellent new report on BPA in your canned foods (warning, it's very scary):

http://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/NoSilverLining-Report.pdf

 

[Maddy]

This following is an upgrade, new and improved, from a previous post that I had written on this subject.

Thanks for the warning but I absolutely, positively refuse to be scared. As I listen to all the warnings on the news each day,why I continue to wake up every day is beyond my comprehension.

"Life causes death" and their are numerous grim reapers marching in my direction.
Years of fast food at work. Heating my food in those horrible plastic containers in the "mic". Whole milk with cream on top growing up. Raw milk now. Smoking from age 18-33 up to two packs/day, not to mention years of exposure to second hand smoke. DEET for last 35+years. Used it again yesterday. Drinking from dangerous water bottles for years on end and still doing it until they wear out.
The cell phone. The aluminum pans my mother used to cook her entire life. Growing up on primarily on canned veggies and fruits. Mom had the "big one" at age 87 with no sign of Alzeihmers.
No " ADD" from chemicals.
No autism from vaccines. (Oops...I think they now believe there is a special gene causing this problem.) Eggs should have finished me off years ago.
Microwaves were going to do us in a while back.
Driving in raging blizzards and blinding rainstorms, commuting late at night on the interstate surrounded by big scary trucks, and all the other hazards we find on the road. Deer, moose, drunk drivers, and lunatics.
YES indeed...someone told me years ago that "Life causes death!" He was massively fed up with my friend and I talking about all the things that were going to kill us on the way up to the White mountains. We were nurses, he was an engineer...go figure!

I'm pushing 70 and other than degenerative arthritis, most likely a result of years of 12 hr + shifts of nursing, hiking, skiing my brains out, and running, I still wake up each day very much alive. What the heck,things wear out, even joints!
It's all so unpredictable, why waste time being scared and worrying myself to death. When the grim reaper grabs me, sayanara, it's been quite a ride and I sure hope it happens in the woods!

Every day we wake up and something else is in the news that will surely do us it. I ask this simple question.What are we still all doing here reading VFTT each and every morning? How did all us oldies on the boards manage to live this long? Fear not all you young folks. A good number of you will most likely live nice long lives to.
Keep hiking and do your best to keep yourselves intact. But all this worry, gloom and doom is probably more unhealthy for us than that can of green peas and sip of water from your bisphenol bottle.

This post is respectfully submitted by a "survivor"!

 

[Chip]

Thanks for the warning but I absolutely, positively refuse to be scared. As I listen to all the warnings on the news each day,why I continue to wake up every day is beyond my comprehension.

"Life causes death" and their are numerous grim reapers marching in my direction.

This post is respectfully submitted by a "survivor"!

Agree. My mother's a twin and has had some cancer that her twin hasn't. "They" study twins and cancer lifestyle/habitat differences closely and one of the only things they've been able to identify is that my mother's been drinking rural well water for the past 45 years while her less cancered twin has been drinking chlorinated city water the whole time, so go figure.

 

[eddie]

Life is a random event...

I so heartily agree with you Maddy. Just the other day, an old work associate who lives his life in fear of cancer and who did all of the "right things" to avoid cancer was diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 56. The cancer has also spread to his liver. Poor guy never had a chance. He was trying to minimize his risk, but the risk was already there, predetermined. Control what you can but many things, like this, are out of your control.

Banning BPA certainly helps the industry sell a new round of water bottle sales since that the darn things last forever!

 

[expat]

Things I did as a kid

I did all the things that most my age did as kids, ride a bike without a helmet (standing on the seat sometimes), stood up on the back seat of a moving car, etc.

Also, my grandfather was a doctor with older kids still at home, and there were always vials of mercury from broken thermometers around. We played with the mercury, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone of us grandkids put some in our mouths.

My parents took me on a tour of an asbestos mine at Mt. Belvidere in Vermont. For years I had a souvenir rock with asbestos fibers hanging out of it on my desk in my bedroom.

I don't think I'm going to worry about my Nalgene bottle too much.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Register receipts

So, if the Nalgene bottle BPA does not get you, those cash register receipts will.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gen...a_large_—_and_largely_ignored_—_source_of_BPA

 

[Maddy]

So, if the Nalgene bottle BPA does not get you, those cash register receipts will.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gen...a_large_—_and_largely_ignored_—_source_of_BPA

I posted on this topic previously but feel the overwhelming urge to post again.

If the BPA doesn't get me, the fat in my Sun Ships, that can now be purchased in new "green bags", will surely do the job. I can't even hide from the dogs when I eat them now because the bag makes so much noise. I have never heard such a racket. I'ts so loud it's probably causing hearing loss.
Unless it's a "salmonella" warning or some killer flu, I try to do my very best to ignore it all. I honestly cannot comprehend how I have lived to be this "old"! Every night I go to sleep expecting to not wake up in the morning.
The big question is...do we really want to live long enough to end up in a nursing home? Bring on the bacon, eggs, and BPA!!!

 

[Raymond]

I stuck one of those Sun Chips bags in the compost heap last weekend.

For a while there, my ladyfriend’s father was using them to augment his solar collectors, but he didn’t want that one, so I thought I’d see if it would break down organically.

They sure do make a racket, don‘t they?