04.09.08

I thought my Nalgene was good for me.

Posted in food & drink, green living at 10:57 am by Pammy

This morning I was watching The Today Show while at the gym, and a segment came on that caught my ear. It was about water bottles and how a chemical called Bisphenol-A that is in the plastic they are made out of is seriously harmful to your health. Apparently, if you reuse regular plastic water bottles and do things like put them in the dishwasher or microwave, a chemical leaches through the plastic and can be ingested. But it is at such small levels that people shouldn’t be too concerned. However, in Nalgene bottles and other similar plastic bottles, the leaching is more dangerous. It can cause developmental disorders in children, type 2 diabetes, and infertility. If the bottle is labeled on the bottom with a 7, it is more likely to leach BPA into your water. You can read more about this issue at The Green Guide. They offer some advice for people that already own bottles of this type. They say that you should “wash them by hand with mild dishwashing soap, not in the dishwasher, to avoid degrading the plastic and increasing leaching of BPA.”

I think that I am going to replace my Nalgene and other similar bottles altogether. I have my eye on a Sigg bottle, that is made from aluminium (so it’s light) and is non-leaching. They have tons of different styles and colors on their website. And I will absolutely be using glass bottles when I have children. Happy sipping!

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