Are You using a refillable plastic water bottle on your Belmar boardwalks ? You might want to think twice

Nalgene to nix BPA bottles due to consumer concern


By BEN DOBBIN AP Business Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A will be pulled from stores over the next few months because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk.

Nalge Nunc International, a division of Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., said Friday it will substitute its Nalgene Outdoor line of polycarbonate plastic containers with BPA-free alternatives.

"We continue to believe that Nalgene products containing BPA are safe for their intended use," Steven Silverman, general manager of the Nalgene business, said in a statement. "However, our customers indicated they preferred BPA-free alternatives and we acted in response to those concerns."

With more than 6 million pounds produced in the United States each year, bisphenol A is found in dental sealants, baby bottles, the liners of food cans, CDs and DVDs, eyeglasses and hundreds of household goods.

The U.S. government's National Toxicology Program said this week that there is "some concern" about BPA from experiments on rats that linked the chemical to changes in behavior and the brain, early puberty and possibly precancerous changes in the prostate and breast. While such animal studies only provide "limited evidence" of risk, the draft report said a possible effect on humans "cannot be dismissed."

Highly durable and lightweight, resistant to stains and odors, and able to withstand extremes of hot and cold, screw-cap Nalgene bottles have been marketed as an environmentally responsible substitute for disposable water bottles.

The transparent reusable sports accessory is made at a factory in suburban Rochester that employs about 900 people.

Nalge Nunc was founded in 1949 by Rochester chemist Emanuel Goldberg. The lab-equipment supplier's product evolved in the 1970s after rumors spread about its scientists taking hardy lab vessels on weekend outings. That led the company to form a water-bottle consumer unit targeting Boy Scouts, hikers and campers.

In 2000, a new sports line of Nalgene-brand bottles offered in red, blue and yellow hues quickly became the rage in high schools and on college campuses.

Earlier this week, Wal-Mart Canada and other major retailers in Canada began removing BPA-based food-related products such as baby bottles and sipping cups from store shelves. Canadian health regulators were expected to announce the results of a preliminary review on BPA later Friday.

"I think the writing's on the wall for this chemical," said Aaron Freeman, policy director of Toronto-based Environmental Defence Canada. "You've got major retailers with huge market clout pulling BPA products ... and you've got consumers in droves who are opting for alternatives. They're a big late to the game, but they are responding to that consumer demand."

Citing multiple studies in the United States, Europe and Japan, the chemicals industry maintains that polycarbonate bottles contain little BPA and leach traces considered too low to harm humans.

But critics point to an influx of animal studies linking low doses to a wide variety of ailments _ from breast and prostate cancer, obesity and hyperactivity, to miscarriages and other reproductive failures.

An expert panel of 38 academic and government researchers who attended a National Institutes of Health-sponsored conference said in a study in August that "the potential for BPA to impact human health is a concern, and more research is clearly needed."




August 2007 report

Jury Still Out on BPA/Plastics Risk
What to Do While Scientists Study Risk From Plastic Baby Bottles, Other Sources
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Medical NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDAug. 24, 2007 -- The jury is still out on whether there's a health risk from bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that leaches from plastic baby bottles, food/beverage cans, and many other products.

Industry uses more than 6 billion pounds of BPA every year to make the resins that line food cans and the polycarbonate plastics used to make baby bottles and many, many other products. The CDC says that 95% of us carry measurable amounts of BPA in our blood.

Some scientists say there's reason to worry. They note that BPA acts like the sex hormone estrogen -- indeed, BPA was originally developed as a chemical estrogen. These researchers worry that BPA is behind hormone-linked trends in human health such as increased abnormal penis development in males, earlier sexual development in females, increases in neurodevelopmental diseases such as ADHD and autism, increased child obesity, decreased sperm count, and more breast and prostate cancers.

The plastics industry says there's nothing to worry about. Industry-funded studies by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis and the Gradient Corporation say there's not cause for alarm.

A scientific panel asked by the National Toxicology Program to settle the issue says there's "some" concern about neural and behavioral effects from BPA exposure in fetuses, infants, and children.

The panel found no major health risks. But there are serious questions about the panel's report -- and about its independence from industry (the contractor that prepared the panel's draft report was fired for apparent conflict of interest).

This fall, the National Toxicology Program is expected to issue a ruling on whether BPA is toxic. Until then, here's a summary of what is known -- and what you can do if you feel you're at risk.

Is BPA Really Risky?
There's no argument that at some level of exposure, BPA is toxic. BPA has a half-life in the human body of about six hours. But because we're continually exposed, nearly all of us have measurable blood levels of BPA.

Whether these levels are dangerous isn't known for sure. One problem is that BPA acts like a hormone. This means that low doses may have effects not seen at higher doses. This is a problem for traditional toxicology studies, which usually try to find a high-dose effect and lower the dose until that effect goes away.

Currently, the EPA says that the "safe" level of BPA is set at 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. But animal studies suggest that this level of BPA has harmful effects, including genetic damage. Exactly how to translate these animal findings into human effects is a bone of contention between academic and industry scientists.

Nevertheless, BPA can flip the estrogen switches on cells at part-per-trillion concentrations -- lower concentrations than those common in the blood of human infants, children, and adults.