BPA-Free Containers May Harm You

motherjones.com/environment…

"According to Bittner's research, some BPA-free products actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent than BPA."

How many of you use plastic drinking containers (Camelback included)? I bet most. It's shitty to know that the manufacturers that claim their products are safe are still making unsafe products. No surprise.

We're gonna die

If they say it's all plastic and it's worsened by heat/cold/etc... then what about coffee makers? I haven't heard any uproar there and tens of millions of people every day drink coffee from counter top machines that have boiling hot water dripping onto a plastic cone. Seems like that would leech much more than a water bottle or sippy cup? 2-3 pots a day here plus a nalgene on my desk. I'm screwed.

broccoli, brussel sprouts, honey, and all other natural organic free range foods promoted by tree hugging vitamin supplementing pseudo-science idiots were all tied to cancers, too.

but don't burn your meat if you're a guy, because that actually does promote prostate cancer.

& Tom's dead...totally dead....some day

We don't have increased cases of cancer....just greater awareness, testing , and screening. All of this "alarmist" talk in the media today about "increasing cases of cancer" yet our life expectancy is 75 for a male. When social security was created, it was based on the average male living to 52. So what!? We were dying from cancer 10,000 years ago.....we just didn't know it. We were dying from HIV in the 1800's....we just didn't know it. The list goes on. I WILL DIE someday.....but so help me, I'm going to LIVE TODAY.

Also, burned meat sucks. I think you're supposed to drink from metal now.

MarktheCPA wrote:If they say it's all plastic and it's worsened by heat/cold/etc... then what about coffee makers?

Interestingly, there's been some backlash on the internets against those damned k-cup single serving wastes lately, for precisely that reason.

20 kN wrote: According to Bittner's research, some BPA-free products actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent than BPA...No surprise.

Ha! I called this years ago...and I still use old-style BPA containers. The reason for this is that all of these plastics require various nasty plasticizer compounds. Of these plasticizers, BPA is by far the best studied, and it has been demonstrated to be only a little bit bad. There is a lot of hype around the BPA effects, but at the root the actual findings aren't that alarming; I feel ok about drinking out of a BPA nalgene. The BPA-free containers, on the other hand, have just replaced the BPA with another similar plasticizer that we know much less about, without any evidence that the replacement was safer. For all we know, the new plasticizers could be worse...as these new data may suggest.

Really, the best thing to do is to avoid plastics when possible; eat and drink out of ceramic and glass when at home, and use a steel bottle when out and about. Occasionally using a plastic Camelback won't harm you though, as long as it isn't all day every day.

"Update (3/3/14): After this story went to press, the US Food and Drug Administration published a paper finding that BPA was safe in low doses. However, the underlying testing was done on a strain of lab rat known as the Charles River Sprague Dawley, which doesn't readily respond to synthetic estrogens, such as BPA. And, due to laboratory contamination, all of the animals—including the control group—were exposed to this chemical. Academic scientists say this raises serious questions about the study's credibility. Stay tuned for more in-depth reporting on the shortcomings of the FDA's most recent study."

LMAO. Yes, let's trust these people to tell us what to eat and what drugs are safe to take. They clearly have done some bomber research!

yeah I figured that. I also figured the nursery baby water that I'm drinking from Walmart is probably way way worse for you than the regular drinking water

Hot water will tend to leach chemicals out of containers. Its why you shouldn't drink hot water out of plastic water bottles, the sink, etc. Note that a lot of metal bottles have inner plastic coatings.

As noted upthread not using bpa means using other plastcizers, most of which are in the same family as bpa, and some are worse for you. I believe or plaatic vendor said there is one vendor of safer plasticizer, but they had another significant drawback (cost, volume, material options, I forget what). All in all, I think it's safe enough for me, but keep it to cold liquids.

Kyle O wrote:"Update (3/3/14): After this story went to press, the US Food and Drug Administration published a paper finding that BPA was safe in low doses. However, the underlying testing was done on a strain of lab rat known as the Charles River Sprague Dawley, which doesn't readily respond to synthetic estrogens, such as BPA. And, due to laboratory contamination, all of the animals—including the control group—were exposed to this chemical. Academic scientists say this raises serious questions about the study's credibility. Stay tuned for more in-depth reporting on the shortcomings of the FDA's most recent study." LMAO. Yes, let's trust these people to tell us what to eat and what drugs are safe to take. They clearly have done some bomber research!

This is actually a fairly common problem that is more difficult to control for than you might think. The ability to detect compounds has reached unprecedented levels. The same is true for assays that measure activation of biological receptors. So we are able to detect BPA and estrogenic activity at extremely low levels...and not only that but often compounds activating the effect being tested are fairly ubiquitous in the environment (think lab plastics!). Now add in the confusion that comes with different receptor sub-types and biologic effects associated with activation of those sub-types and it quickly becomes a complex subject.

5.samadhi wrote:yeah I figured that. I also figured the nursery baby water that I'm drinking from Walmart is probably way way worse for you than the regular drinking water

If it has fluoride in it, it is probably bad for your thyroid.

The only cure is to go your local starbucks, run around in a circle with your hands waving in the air, stop and scream -- "I am Tars Tarkas!"

Then go across the street to Dazbog and get some real coffee. It's an anti-oxidant, after all

Tin foil hat wearing cooks. Wish you all would have died on Dec 21st. Man up drink beer out of aluminum cans. Avian sipping sissies

And I thought my man boobs were from slab climbing.

No terrorist group could match the damage done to us by corporations. Jeopordizing health and causing death, ruining the economy, destroying the environment, highjacking our political system, wasting precious resources, and keeping us locked into unending war are just a few of the evils perpetrated on the entire world in the pursuit of money. I know who the real enemy of human kind is. Corporations are the real terrorists.

What about all the other stuff. Almost all our food comes in or is stored in some kind of plastic. Climbers even wear plastic all day long with synthetic materials. I wonder if there's anything leaching into our skin through our fancy Patagonia shirts. How about that stupid SPF shit they use now? As if a farmer's tan wasn't proof enough that clothes block UVs.

You do realize plastic is made from oil, right? In what universe do you think its ok to ingest oil?

R. Moran wrote:Man up drink beer out of aluminum cans. Avian sipping sissies

Geez, at least go out with a touch of class. Beer in glass bottles.

Or Scotch. In any vessel.

Since I'm forced to eat canned foods when I'm out camping, I can't really get away from BPA exposure. The cans are lined with plastic (and were treated with heat at the time of canning). Most metal containers are lined with plastic as noted above. Plus they burn your mouth and hands with hot liquids inside, not too mention prices (I don't really feel like dropping $40 on a water bottle).

Tug wrote:And I thought my man boobs were from slab climbing.

Dammit!...just when I thought I was gettin' my nerve up on slab