News Coverage
Message on a Bottle
On aluminum bottles
Published April 3, 2007
question Umbra,
Are aluminum bottles safer than Nalgene bottles? I'm looking at getting Sigg
bottles for my self, wife, and son. Vendor agnostic, are the materials used
by aluminum-only vendors safer than those that incorporate Lexan?
Chris Webber
Seattle, Wash.
answer Dearest Chris,
I swear, I pick questions and only then do I notice that yet again I have
chosen one from Seattle. It is not a conspiracy. I just wanted a question to
go with our recent perusal of safety in baby bottles. Here we have the adult
bottles. We are avoiding clear bottles made from polycarbonate because they
may leach bisphenol A into our fragile human bodies. Today we are talking
about number seven in the recycling triangle. Seven indicates "other"
plastics, often polycarbonate. (I should note that Nalgene makes bottles
from other, less-yucky types of plastic.)
If you dozed off during Monday's baby-bottle discussion, or if by chance you
weren't reading my column three years ago, there's still time to click over
and catch up. We'll wait.
OK, now that you're up on the science: bisphenol A is one of the chemicals
whose monomers are key to the plastic polymers in polycarbonate (you may
know it as 4,4'-dimethylmethylenediphenol). It may be a hormone disruptor
that probably will eventually leak out of well-loved polycarbonate bottles.
I am hedging because it's science. Multiple studies about BPA and the human
body's hormones indicate that we should be concerned, the Food and Drug
Administration and the American Chemistry Council feel confident that we
should not. Apparently it's not only polycarbonate bottles that leach BPA,
but also the lining of metal food cans, according to a study by the
Environmental Working Group. Sigh. So, there's your potential problem with
aluminum water bottles -- the lining inside. Do visit the Environmental
Working Group for much more information about the issue.
The only thing we know for sure about your particular polycarbonate bottle
is that you are going to chuck it into the recycling bin and find a new
water-carrying device. Leading us back to your question: Sigg is an
aluminum-bottle manufacturer with excellent publicity. They make a variety
of water bottles, including for kids, and have recently changed the lining
of their aluminum drinking bottles in response to BPA concerns. I found a
non-agnostic Sigg vendor offering quite a bit of information about issues
with reusable drinking bottles and documents in support of Sigg's
water-based non-leaching linings. Another potential material for your
family's portable drinking vessels is food-grade stainless steel, and the
same vendor will show you a range of the stainless-steel bottles on the
market, aesthetically and functionally. You don't have to shop there -- I'm
vendor agnostic. Thank you for teaching me a new phrase.
Are metals safer for your health than polycarbonate? It looks that way right
now, but it also could be the known evil versus the unknown evil. We just
don't know what else will be uncovered in the future, and I'm not going to
pretend that we do.
Although this question is about the health component of environmental
concerns, I must yet again point out that ecologically, virgin aluminum is
terrible. So if you are going to buy aluminum (or stainless steel for that
matter), don't lose it, and recycle it when you are done. And drive less.
Note-to-selfly,
Umbra
