After I finished my talk about the hazards of bisphenol A at Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon last week, I immediately reached beneath the podium and took a swig from my reusable Sigg water bottle.
The polite applause subsided, and one of the first to ask questions was a middle-aged man in the front row. "What's that blue thing you're drinking from? Does it have BPA in it?" As it turns out, the good man's questions require an answer far more nuanced than the one I gave him the other night.
If you've not heard, BPA is a chemical used for making polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and sippy cups. It's also a material in the resin linings that coat metal food cans (think soup, beans and the fruits and veggies in your pantry) and beverage containers, (think Coke, Pepsi and all the brands that wish they were).
No one, not even BPA manufacturers, disputes that BPA, which mimics the hormone estrogen, leaches from polycarbonate containers and metal-can linings into what we eat and drink. So, in light of dozens of independent, peer-reveiwed laboratory studies that show BPA causes troubling effects, and that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found BPA in nine out of 10 Americans, the Food and Drug Administration has promised a new safety assessment of BPA by Nov. 30.
In the meantime, Connecticut and Michigan, the city of Chicago, three counties in New York and the entire country of Canada have banned BPA in certain products intended for children. Nearly two dozen jurisdictions -- including the U.S. Congress -- are currently considering bans.
Personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry. So I got rid of my reusable polycarbonate plastic water bottle three years ago as I was researching my book, The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-being (North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
I learned how stacks of peer-reviewed studies plausibly link BPA to infertility, prostate and breast cancers, a decline in semen quality, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. And I saw chemical manufacturers using tricks straight out of Big Tobacco's playbook in an attempt to downplay the hazards of BPA.
When I purchased a new reusable water container, I chose an aluminum Sigg bottle festooned in a cheery, blue-plaid pattern. Any concern that the shiny coppery-bronze interiors of Sigg bottles might contain and leach BPA was allayed by the company's assurances that its "proprietary" lining was "totally inert and imparts absolutely no chemicals into the beverage."
Soon, my editor, my agent, my friends and my family were sipping from colorful Siggs, too.
So imagine my outrage when I learned last Friday that the closely guarded secret ingredients of the lining inside all Sigg bottles made before August 2008 contain traces of BPA.
Sigg posted the information on its web site along with an announcement about its new BPA-free lining, which Sigg said has been in development since 2006 at a cost of $1 million. To reassure consumers like me who adapted early to Sigg bottles, the company stated that its BPA-containing bottles "were thoroughly and regularly tested...and all tests revealed absolutely no migration or leaching of BPA or any other substance."
This is greenwashing at its worst. Sigg rode a wave of growing concerns about BPA, selling lot after lot of its products to people who believed they were reducing the risk of exposure to BPA by switching from reusable polycarbonate plastic drinking bottles.
Then, in order to tout its new BPA-free product (as many of its competitors already are doing), Sigg copped to the presence of BPA in its older products, and asked customers to take its word that testing (paid for by the company) confirms that the old linings don't leach BPA.
If you write to Sigg to complain, the company is offering a free replacement -- providing you pay the postage to send in your old BPA-containing bottle.
"We want our current and potential customers to have the facts," said Steve Wasik, CEO of Sigg.
Well, Mr. Wasik, this former customer wishes you'd been straight with the facts from the beginning.
As much as I admire Sigg's hip graphics and commitment to weaning us off throwaway water bottles, I won't be sending in my old Sigg bottle for a replacement. Why should I condone corporate doublespeak or claims of "proprietary" business information that conveniently cloud the facts?
Instead, I'll be applying the cost of postage to the purchase of a BPA-free product from one of Sigg's competitors.
Good-bye Sigg. Hello Klean Kanteen.
Follow Nena Baker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nenapdx
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Yes, Sigg made a BIG error in judgment, but they've come clean and are making efforts to correct their mistake and move forwrard. I just got my replacemen
I was surprised to learn this news today about Sigg bottles, since I bought several items from their website using my current email and postal address, yet had never received the letter about the BPA issue from the CEO that their site shows as having been sent out to customers a few weeks ago. (I'm not sure which customers it was sent out to.)
I'm surprised at all the positive, forgive-an
I don't trust any steel product from China, particular
Too many contaminat
As I said in my previous posts below, Glass Jars are the Best.
The older linings that had BPA are a different color than the new linings without BPA. Read here for details about how to determine if your bottle has the old lining: http://www
Nalgene's line, which includes bottles made from several different types of plastic as well as a stainless-
Before 2008, Nalgene and other plastic water bottle manufactur
I don't trust Nalgene or any other plastic manufactur
True harmless containers are Glass Jars or Bottles. I re-use my pasta sauce jars to carry my filtered water. The jars are no heavier than the plastic bottles and there is definitely no BPA. Another reader gave me the idea of using Orangina bottles. They are cute and are small enough to place womens' purses. Great idea!
Definitely
I'm almost 100% sure other customers besides me were affected because according to my letter this data compromise took place between March 12, 2009 - June 8, 2009 and I'm sure a lot of people made purchases from the SIGG website during that time.
Thanks and yes, that's exactly what I'm saying - my personal informatio
I just think 5 months is a long time for customers to be unaware that their personal informatio
Wow, very unsettling
http://www
I would really like to see your sources, this article seems more like a pitch for Kleen Kanteen.
No pitch for Klean Kanteen intended. I'm simply making the point that I'm switching to another type of reusable water bottle because of my profound disappoint
Sorry for all your troubles with identity theft. Are you saying the credit card informatio
Thousands and thousands of customers were Lied too, thinking they were buying BPA Free water bottles.
This is intolerabl
Is there an Attorney reading this story and comment thread?
Sue them!!!
For people who want an alternativ
And for people who feel better with a non-breaka
http://www
They manufactur
It's clear that Sigg does not care about BPA in their bottles and have done everything to mislead their customers. Shame on them!!
I'm using Glass Jars for my water and I'm buying a Polar Bottle for my Internatio
Goodbye Sigg!!!!!
From chemistry texts, here are the chemicals used to produce LDPE and HDPE:
Low Density Polyethyle
High Density Polyethyle
Personally
But I like to be realistic that not all people want to carry glass jars. I offer people a choice. We all know that BPA is toxic, so if a company here in the U.S. (and not across the world in China) is producing a BPA Free water bottle, Great!!!!!
Now you can rain on the parade, but chew on this for while. What about all the supplement
Look, I don't believe there is any perfect solution, other than growing our food by hand, picking it with our hands, and eating it with our hands, which of course, is just not practical for most us.
So, through my comments, I am just trying to offer reasonable alternativ
Let's focus on one battle at a time. Life is too difficult to go to war with everything at once.
8X more oil than canola.
canola 133 gallons per acre hemp 1,000 gallons per acre
Strongest root structure known
no-till farming too