BPA

It’s Bisphenol A, or, you know, BPA for those of us who need more acronyms in our lives. That is the chemical leaching from the inside of the #7 plastic eco-groovy Nalgene water bottle you bought to help save planet earth. Remember? So you could drink tap water? It’s healthy and refreshing.
The Nalgene “Lexan” is the water bottle I owned up until a few days ago when I attacked mine with a hammer for poisoning me. It creatively obeyed the laws of physics and struck me in the head. I returned it to REI. The green-vested sales associate was not explicitly judgmental about the return. But I could tell that she noticed that our dishwasher has not been performing impressively of late. I think it’s the hard water. Or maybe I am not using the correct amount of soap. But everything is coming out with this nice milky film and a coarse grainy texture. It is perfect for impressing dinner guests. Anyway, the water bottle had seen better days, but REI Lady took it off my hands and I went shopping for something that would carry my water without causing neurological damage (I have had quite enough, thank you). I bought a stainless steel “Kleen Kanteen” and a cheap-looking #2 plastic Nalgene. Now I am safe from ever getting cancer.
I would be, anyway, if I could avoid the other kajillions of polycarbonate plastics BPA is used to produce. According to the National Institute of Health, BPA is present in food and drink packaging, coatings of food cans, bottle tops, water supply lines, and even dental sealants and tooth coatings. Yes, it is in my pipes, and on my number 2 maxillary molar. Grand.
Thankfully, the National Institute of Health, National Toxicology Program loves me and cares about whether or not I can fall asleep without fixating on the BPA dripping from my teeth. The NIH convened an expert panel in the first week of August to “review and assess scientific studies on the potential reproductive and developmental hazards” of BPA. This panel of 12 independent scientists (which included Gandalf the Gray and Yoda) looked at a whole bunch of data with lots of charts and graphs and statistical formulas. Then, it released its conclusions on the effects of BPA on pregnant women and fetuses, infants, children and boring old adults.
The American Chemistry Council (which “represents the companies that make modern life possible”) was extremely happy with the study’s results. In a reassuring press release, Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council’s Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group is quoted as saying, “The safety of our products is our top priority. The conclusions reported today provide strong reassurance to consumers that they are not at risk from use of products made from Bisphenol A.” Yay!
But before you go and start eating packaged food or getting dental work done, read the Draft Meeting Summary. It is available online at (big long web address alert) http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov/chemicals/bisphenol/draftBPA_MtgSumm080807.pdf.. It is true that in the report the 12 scientists express “minimal” or “negligible” concern about BPA affecting the prostate, accelerating puberty, or causing birth defects and malformations, which is pretty good news. But then, the panel goes and expresses “some concern” that exposure to BPA causes neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants and children. I wonder, how did the panel of experts express that concern? Maybe with a collective low volume, slightly agitated, “oh no?” Or maybe a “good gracious?”
Hard to say. Perhaps that information will be included in the final expert panel report, which will be available this fall. When it arrives you (and every environmental group and chemical corporation under the sun) will be able to submit comments before the NIH releases its final word on whether current BPA exposure levels are a risk to human development and reproduction. Then we’ll all know for sure for sure for sure. Meanwhile, I am drinking filtered rain water from my stainless steel water bottle. And, I am getting wooden teeth.

Portable Water

In last week’s column I lectured you about bottled water. I waved my hands all around and tried to convince you that it is way less eco-friendly and no healthier or safer than tap water. In fact, I informed you, much of the bottled water we drink (including Aquafina and Dasani) is nothing more than enthusiastically marketed tap water. I encouraged you to drink the water from our pipes. Remember?
At the risk of sounding egotistical, but in the interest of full and honest disclosure, I need to admit that I am aware of the far-reaching influence I possess. I do see the power this weekly column affords me. Please know that I do not wield this power lightly. I know, for example, that when I suggested that you stop drinking bottled water, you did. Right then. You poured whatever was left in your # 1 plastic bottle onto a thirsty looking plant, dropped the bottle into a recycling bin and you haven’t looked back.
Ummm… but here’s the thing. I may have left out a few pieces of information that were important. I may have poisoned you. Sorry about that. It’s not the tap water. It’s what you put it in.
As soon as you finished reading this column last week, you rode your bike or carpooled straight to REI and bought a Nalgene “Lexan” water bottle, didn’t you? You thought, “Well, shoot, now that I am drinking tap water and saving the environment, I need a water bottle that will broadcast my eco-grooviness to the world.” And because you are perceptive and kind of hip, you knew that the official water bottle of the eco-groovy is the Nalgene (wrapped, for some unknown reason in a single strip of duct tape and clipped prominently with a $12 rock-climbing caribiner). So that’s what you bought, (along with a red handkerchief to tie around your dog’s neck and a topographical map of your neighborhood) and you have been drinking from your Nalgene ever since. At all meals. Even in restaurants.
I have bad news. According to the Green Guide (www.greenguide.com – it’s handy!), your eco-groovy water bottle is poisonous. It is made out of #7 polycarbonate plastics (Look in the little recycling symbol on the bottom. See the number?), which according to frightening new studies can cause obesity and breast cancer even in low doses. The effects can even skip a generation. Pregnant lab mice that were exposed to the chemicals that leach from #7 plastics apparently developed chromosome abnormalities that caused birth defects and miscarriages in their grandchildren.
OK, now, you know me. I am not one to be alarmist or melodramatic. But… run for your lives! When I discovered this information about the water bottle I have been drinking from for years, the water bottle that defines me as a tree-hugger, I pulled it down from the shelf and attacked it with a hammer. Betrayer! Back Stabber! Contaminator of generations of lab mice! It bounced up and hit me in the head. I wonder if the chemicals cause problems with hand-eye coordination, too? Or maybe with impulse control?
Even if you didn’t rush out and buy a Nalgene, you are still in for it. Maybe you thought you could get away with just reusing that one Aquafina water bottle. That would solve the problem of portable potable water, right? Sorry. Those bottles are made from #1 plastics, polyethylene terephthalates (try saying that without spraying crackers everywhere). When these bottles are re-used they leach carcinogenic and hormone disrupting chemicals and a heavy metal – antimony - that is a lung, skin and eye irritant in large doses.
So what are you supposed to do (besides live off of Dr. Pepper)? Start by returning your Nalgene. REI will take anything back (even your nasty 3 year-old Teva sandals). And, there are safer plastics available. Buy those. Plastics labeled #2, #4, and #5 are supposed to be OK based on what smart people know at this point. Or, you can use stainless steel canteens, or your ten-gallon hat. Or, have your heard of these special cups they have at Crate and Barrel? They are made of glass. You could use those. Finally, you can take heart in the fact that there are so many other potential causes of cancer out there that there is no way that the tiny amounts of chemicals leaching from your water bottles will get you first. Hey, you might not even die of cancer. You could die in a car wreck, or of a heart attack, or from a dumb Nalgene bashing you in the head.