Safe Water Bottles

Plastic generates more questions to the Breast Cancer Fund about safety and health than any other household product. We can tell you how to choose wisely (avoid #3 and #7 plastics) and reduce leaching (don’t microwave in plastic), but it would be better for all of our health if toxic plastics weren’t sold in the first place.

Nalgene, maker of the clear, plastic water bottles that come in a rainbow of colors and appeal to adventurers and urbanites alike, has based its business on environmental sustainability. Most recent, Nalgene teamed up with Brita on a new campaign to reduce the use of disposable plastic water bottles.

We sincerely applaud the efforts of these companies to look for ways to reduce plastic from the environment. We are troubled, however, that Nalgene still makes and sells water bottles that contain a chemical called bisphenol A (identified as #7 plastic), despite overwhelming evidence showing health harm from even very small exposures to BPA.

Bisphenol A is a known hormone disruptor and several studies have shown that exposure to BPA in utero can cause breast cancer later in life. As Pete Myers, founder and CEO of Environmental Health Sciences, has noted:
“Since 1997, well over 200 articles have been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature showing that BPA (bisphenol A) has a biological impact on cells and animals beneath the current federal standards, which were based on data gathered in the early 1980s… Significantly, all of the reports of major effects come from government or academic studies, while none of the 12 studies funded by industry has reported harm.”

Clearly under pressure from consumers, Nalgene touts the safety of BPA on the company’s Web site—largely citing “sources” supported by industry, including the American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division (motto: “Better living with plastics”) and Polycarbonate/BPA Business Group.

It’s time for Nalgene, a subsidiary of ThermoFisher Scientific, to focus its sustainability efforts on our environment and our health.

Ask Nalgene to remove BPA from their products.

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=3374453&msource=news0907&auid=2987417