Free State Family is a parent blog full practical and entertaining information for parents in and around Lawrence, Kansas. Not from the area? No problem! We also have a healthy dose of general musings suitable for the wider audience.
Posted by Eric on August 01, 2007. Category: Issues
Those well-marketed Nalgene-style plastic water bottles have caught on at our house. Why is it that water seems to taste better if it's coming out of a blue or purple translucent bottle? Our tally is up to three or four of these bottles, which we're filling with filtered tap water and keeping in the refrigerator in place of buying bottled water.
Cue the "leaching" fears. In case you haven't read about it, the plastics industry has been taking a beating recently because a commonly used chemical, bisphenol-A (BPA for short) leaks out of these kinds of containers and into our systems. A 2004 study by the Centers for Disease Control found BPA in the urine of 95 percent of 394 adults sampled and concluded that U.S. residents face "widespread exposure" to the chemical, which is used for things including polycarbonate water bottles, plastic baby bottles, dentistry sealants and soup-can liners.
The central concern about BPA is that, by mimicking estrogen, it has the potential to throw consumers' hormones out of whack and lead to problems ranging from decreased sperm count to cancer.
Not surprisingly, the plastics industry says that BPA at the levels we encounter it is perfectly harmless. It points out a 2005 letter from an FDA official that stated "based on all the evidence available at this time, FDA sees no reason to change its long-held position that current uses with food are safe."
Somehow, that doesn't put my mind at ease. A recent National Geographic article quoted University of Missouri biologist Frederick vom Saal as saying that FDA standards are based on limited studies on rats in the 1980s that didn't take chromosomal damage into account. In addition, he told the magazine that studies showing BPA is safe are "profoundly flawed and in some cases exhibit outright fraud." More from the article:
Last year, he published a paper showing that 100 percent of the industry-funded studies, 11 in all, found no harmful effects from BPA, while 90 percent of government-funded low-dose studies, 104 in number, found harmful effects. "Among people who have actually read this literature there is no debate, just an illusion of controversy," he says.
I get the feeling that vom Saal doesn't stock his fridge with plastic water bottles.
I'm not 100 percent sold on the idea that the bottles in my fridge are a health risk. Still, forgive me for being skeptical about the plastic industry's tidy claim on a pro-BPA website that it "is not a risk to human health."
At a bare minimum I'm going to shy away from washing our plastics in the dishwasher, where the heat can cause the plastic to break down and lead to more leaching. (The sidebar of this article has a list of tips for avoiding chemicals in bottles and cans.) Then again, we may have a fleet of metal or glass water bottles in the house pretty soon.
Comments
Here comes a weird response. I have been thinking about this for hours.
Tomorrow I go into high country with a somehat lame dog and a somewhat lame me. Above all, we'll be packing water, in plastic bottles. We won't go far, just up to 9,000 feet on easy trails. (From 6,000). I'll have a cellphone, which could cause brain cancer.Carcinogens are the least of my worries.
In the old days, first time I crossed the desert with my dad in a 1958 station wagon, we put a canvas bag of water on the outside of the car. Everyone did. I was never sure if it was for the radiator or us, if everything went wrong. Those bags are hard to come by these days. And animal bladders or skins, not acceptable.
We live in a world of unacceptable convenience. Yet, we can quit smoking here and there, eat range free whatever, and still we are stuck with the car, (One of my favorite carcinogens, that no one can really part with.)
Posted by: Brenda at August 2, 2007 10:37 PM
My accupunturist warned me about this years ago. Her advice was to switch to a high-density polyethylene bottle. (refer to tip number 3 in the linked article above.) Nalgene makes these also. They are opaque white with blue lids and come in different sizes. They are affordable and shipping is free. (www.nalgene-outdoor.com) They are labled as HDPE bottles are are reported to be a better choice if one is concerned about chemical leaching.
