Do you drink out of a Nalgene bottle?

[vrikasatma]

If so, you might want to toss it.

One of the chemicals used in the plastic, Bisphenol A, has been connected with heart disease and diabetes. We always heard from medical professionals that even "healthy" people can get heart disease and there's no way of detecting it — except that the victim just falls over dead one day. This could be why.

Don't worry, you won't be without your Nalgene for long. The company is on it and eradicating the chemical from its product. A year, maybe less.

I tossed my Nalgene in the recycling bin right after reading the article on Digg. Here's the link:

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/09/16/ ... t-disease/

[Spongy]

I'll put mine aside for the moment, i suppose...

[Kaebora]

"You ever drunk Bailey's from a shoe?"
-Old Greg

[Spongy]

I dont get it, Kae.

[Kaebora]

Google it or search "Old Greg" on You Tube. I just thought the quote fit the situation with a hint of humor.

Though this is a bit concerning, since there isn't any way to tell if the plastic containers already in my house contain this chemical or not. I guess I could stick with glass from now on, eh?

[fenrisz]

wow how weird some one talks about this we just learned about it in enviromental science and they have already begun making bottles with bpa they say everyday bottles on them i think

[Vuldari]

The article you posted to says that someone suggested that it is "potentially" dangerous, but that the FDA did tests and determined that it was safe ... and that the chemical passes through the body quickly, (and the amount you actually take in per-drink must be absolutely minuscule) making exposure time extremely limited, to the point of near insignificance. (Do you know how many different kinds of natural poisonous substances you inhale, drink and consume every single day, in tiny doses? More than a few ... all of which could kill you if you consumed enough ... but won't)

Essentially, what I have gathered from this is that, if I used my Nalgene as my only drinking container, and drank from it 10x a day, 7-days a week, 365 days a year, then it would increase my risk for heart disease by maybe 5-25%. ... but since I drink from mine on a hike maybe once every other week (or less), I think I'll just keep mine, thank you. It's good that Nalgene is going to remove the chemical from their products in the future (just in case), but it sounds like it is really not a very large risk.

I'm not paranoid. I don't jump at everything that might, POSSIBLY, hurt me, but probably won't.

I don't drink alcohol, smoke, or in any other way consume/absorb mind/body-altering substances (at all) because I KNOW they will hurt me. (I don't even like Taking Pain-Relievers or cold-medicine unless I really need it)

However, studies have shown that just about ANYTHING can cause Cancer if exposed to the body in high enough quantities ... and I just really don't care. I'm not going to lock myself in a box and avoid "EVERYTHING" (Sunlight ... Meat ... even some essential vitamins/minerals have been proven to cause cancer in some study or another ... and it's true ... but is it worth worrying about?)


I think I'm just going to go ahead and ignore this one.

[RedEye]

Simple fact:
Oxygen.
In not-sufficient quantities, you die from asphyxia.
In super-sufficient quantities, you die from asphyxia.
Oxygen is poisonous when there is too much and the pressure (and saturation) grows too great.
Yet we die if we don't get enough.

I don't use Nalgene. I re-use the cheap blow-molded bottles my water came in many months back. I fill them from a reverse-osmosis filter system at the market. When they get crunchy, I toss them in the recycle container.
But then, I'm a cheapskate...

[Set]

What th' heck is a Nalgene bottle?

[vrikasatma]

Vuldari: The finding made my "danger" light go on. And yes, I did RTA.
Myself, I drank from my Nalgene 4-5x daily, every day for the past three years, so I recognized a significant risk. And like I said, heart disease is difficult to diagnose and thus far incurable, so I didn't want to survive cancer just wind up like Douglas Adams.

If you're not threatened by it — hey, more power to you, congrats. Just wanted to get the word out there for people that this could affect.

RedEye: The findings said nothing about cancer. It connected the chemical with heart disease, which is scarier. Cancer is, if nothing else, easier to diagnose and potentially curable. Plus, I have a family history of diabetes so the finding was a double-whammy red alert for me.

Set: A Nalgene bottle is a hard plastic 1 litre bottle with a screw top. They have a graduated volume print on the side so you can monitor how much you drink, and how quickly. Athletes, marathoners and day-hikers use them and several different styles/colours are marketed towards specific demographics, like breast cancer survivors, LiveSTRONG, et al. Even Powell's Books in Portland offers one with various authors and literary works as the volume identifier (32 oz. = War & Peace). They're pretty proliferate because they're very convenient ways of hydrating yourself and are easy to carry in a pocket.