New lab tests show that the aluminum water bottles many people have been using over the past couple years may NOT be free of the chemical BPA (Bisphenol A) after all. That’s the report from Snewsnet.com, an online trade publication that writes in an article that until quite recently the lining of all aluminum bottles contained BPA. Even today, after SIGG and others have introduced new BPA-free linings, it appears that many aluminum bottles still are coated with epoxy linings that contain BPA, the website reports.
This is bad news, and it honestly makes me mad. SIGG CEO Steve Wasik now admits that bottles made by his company prior to August, 2008 were lined with an epoxy that contained BPA, a chemical now facing bans around the world because scientists have recognized it as an endocrine disruptor that mimics the female hormone estrogen. It could have an effect on people at a concentration of a few parts per billion, some tests show.
Tree Hugger has a great post here about feeling misled by SIGG and other metal water bottle companies. I wrote on the subject, too, as far back as 2005, and I pretty much gave a thumbs up to metal bottles over the polycarbonate alternative. I feel like I was misled as well. It was indeed a SIGG public relations team that prompted me to write my original anti-BPA story, with its competitor Nalgene as the scapegoat. Nalgene bottles did contain BPA. I had no idea SIGG bottles at the time did, too. (The P.R. team was suggesting that the SIGG bottles did not.)
SNEWS sums it up: “When concern over BPA in polycarbonate bottles reached a feverish pitch in late 2007 and early 2008, those selling aluminum bottles, including SIGG and Laken, benefited greatly as retailers and consumers scrambled for water-carrying alternatives. SIGG reported at one point it could hardly keep up with consumer demand. Consumers, retailers and most mainstream media assumed incorrectly aluminum bottles were BPA-free.”
SIGG’s Wasik, obviously under the gun this week, has suggested consumers can contact him directly with questions (steve.wasik.ceo@sigg.com).
continued on next page. . .
