Glug, glug, ugh
I’m a thirsty girl. I consume the recommended 8 glasses per day, and then some. When I’m working at home, it’s no problem. I have a Britta filter attached to my faucet and can fill glass after tasteless (yet somehow delicious) glass. But on days when I’m at school for eight hours straight or moving from one place to the next, I need to carry a large plastic bottle in order to properly re-hydrate. And this is where things get all wet.I used to just buy plastic bottles of water. But at more than a dollar a pop, this gets expensive fast. Plus, drinking out of plastic bottles makes you a PLANET KILLER! That is, each bottle adds to the growing mountains of plastic waste produced by this country every day. Just making all those plastic bottles requires the use of hazardous materials and generates all kinds of misery. Some even say that the cost and environmental impact of recycling plastic is worse than just throwing the damn things away.
(Socially, the ubiquitous water bottle is awkward too. Adbusters, for example, tends to compare a person walking down the street with water bottle in hand to a capitalist pig clinging to mommy’s teat. But there’s no pleasing some people.)
Being the green gal that I am, but not wishing to sacrifice my own health for the planet (sorry, earth, just being honest), I decided just to re-use the flimsy plastic water bottles for as long as I could. I was happy with this solution for quite some time, until I learned the horrible truth: HARMFUL BACTERIA! Yes, with each refreshing sip I was backwashing germs into my water and providing them with a warm, wet place to grow.
So I did what any bacteria-fearing primate would do and bought a nice, reusable Nalgene bottle. Boy oh boy, nothing makes you look or feel more like a tree-hugging, mushroom hunting nature girl than one of those bright, hard plastic bottles! Until it comes out that Nalgene gives you BRAIN DAMAGE! Yes, Bisphenol A, used to make Nalgene bottles and other hard plastic projects, apparently seeps into the body and can, in certain doses, mess with the function of the brain. (I’m paraphrasing/exaggerating and not everybody agrees, so look it up.) I could almost dismiss the fear as environmentalist fear mongering, but it turns out that California legislators take the threat seriously enough to consider banning it in children’s products.
I often think, as I’m passing by a gurgling stream or hearing the roar of the ocean’s waves, that such sounds are beautiful for evolutionary reasons. We are water, 60% at least. We need water to live. Hence, water is a beautiful thing. Only in our crazy, accelerated world could we turn something so natural and wonderful (parasites withstanding) as drinking water into something so utterly frickin terrifying. But I can change the world no more than I can alter my thirst. I can only hope that someone out there reading has a brilliant solution to share.
THIS JUST IN: David Pescovitz at BoingBoing just forwarded me a link with good news: The soft, clear plastic used to make Evian bottles (and others) is not carcinogenic according to this link. Woot!
posted by JLS at 12:45 PM
55 Comments:
The key point is that you are backwashing your germs into the water. If they were harmful bacteria, you'd be sick before you even drank the water. Just give the water bottle a good rinse before filling it up and store it dry and you'll be fine.
So what are some good alternatives? It seems like most water bottles are made of plastic. There are some metal ones but they all seem to have plastic caps.
I believe that the reused waterbottle bacteria scare is propaganda by the bottled water companies.
You could just carry one of those 30 gallon blue jugs around with you everywhere. Put a straw in it, and keep drinking.
I've gone to re-using an old Arizona Iced Tea glass bottle (label removed) as my at-work water bottle. The cap fits tightly enough and I much prefer the bottle form-factor to using a glass. I've considered making some kind of plastic or rubber casing for it, to make it more portable (perhaps out of those things they wrap asian pears with?)... It's not as light as plastic, but glass doesn't seem to have toxic and/or bioaccumulative properties of many plastics...
The article linked to by "Brain Damage" lists plastics that are considered safe (and many of which are recyclable.) Nalgene actually makes products using some of these plastics. Do a google search on "Nalgene HDPE" or "HDPE water bottle" and you'll come up with a list of suppliers.
Can't you use a Brita water bottle? That's what I do. I guess it's probably killing me too. It has a small filter in the cap that at least keeps the water from tasting like bottle. I periodically wash the bottle in my dish washer, hoping to boil out the evil.
some things to remember:
1. Any container, plastic, nalgene, metal or glass can be turned into a breeding ground for bacteria, if you don't keep it clean.
2. You can prevent the growth of bacteria by rinsing your bottle each time you fill it. At night, wash to bottle and leave it to dry.
Re-using a container is always a great way to go. Any container should be cleaned on a regular (at least weekly) basis.
So, keep your bottle clean and drink up!
Don't know about the USA, but here in Europe even aggressive fluids like Coca-Cola are shipped in reusable plastic bottles. (there's a deposit on them you get back when you return them)
Those bottles are more stable than the US water/soda bottles, as they are produced to be used again often. These will survive boiling water - at least for a short time period. Boiling water will kill germs safely.
So if it's germs you fear, look out for a stable plastic bottle and sterilize it once a week...
About Nalgene...
I'm a biologist and we use lots of nalgene plastic bottles/containers/carbuoys/etc in our lab, but the key difference is that we use the milky translucent plastics, not the shiny, clear, admittedly purdy colored plastics. The milky translucent is, as far as I know, non-reactive and we use it for storing everything from double glass-distilled water to protein running buffer and other solutions where it is CRITICAL that no chemicals leach out of the container. Bisphenol A has been shown to cause chromosomal non-disjunctions in mice (the research lab that published this noted the problem after a labtech used the wrong soap/scrubber combo on their clear plastic mouse cages) and is structurally analogous to estrogen. As a side note, these bisphenols are mostly oil soluble, so NEVER buy cooking oil in anything other than glass if you can help it.
So, yeah, long story short, if you're really worried, buy the nalgene bottles that are made of the less cute milky white stuff (I think it's labelled UVPE, but like I said, bio nerd, not a polymer chemist) which, to my knowlege, has not been associated with bisphenol A leaching.
Very interesting. Thanks, Adrienne!
Yes, Bisphenol-A is so scary its makers have a site about how silly it is to be scared of it. I'm not qualified to analyze scientific papers, but NIH and NLM have a boatload of studies at NCBI/PubMed.
On preview: yes, thanks, Adrienne!
Jenn,
caught this on boingboing and thought I should point you in the direction of Sigg. They are a Swiss company that makes completely safe bottles, and they have sports bottle versions as well. I use them when cycling.
The biggest threat the bacteria on these bottles pose is to your teeth and gums. The germs that cause cavities and gingivitis are persistant. Drinking from an over-used, under-cleaned bottle is like the opposite of using Listerine.
I use odd glass bottles and wash them regularly. I have a Qvarzia bottle, a POM bottle, and a VOSS bottle. I rotate through them and wash them about once a week each. The POM bottle's lid is the best. Unfortunately, I think POM has since switched to plastic bottles instead of glass...
Also I would like to note that whether you are worried about chemical seepage or not, Nalgene makes products for and supports animal testing.
I use a Nalgene bottle at work and at home, and every time I refill it, I first rinse it with about 8 ounces of boiling water. At work I use the hot water spigot in the coffee machine, and at home I just pop it in the microwave. When you empty out the hot water, just pour it on the lid so it gets cleaned, too. And be careful not to burn yourself.
A researcher at my university did a study not too long ago which turned up no evidence of bottle toxicity:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/98/14/01_1.html
And my old organic chemistry prof, Dom McGrath, says:
"You cannot worry about everything some news report calls a 'chemical,'" McGrath said. "You just have to use common sense."
However, if students are concerned about their Nalgene water bottles, McGrath advised frequently rinsing bottles, using fresh water, and not putting a hot liquid into a Nalgene bottle.
May I suggest you use the gadget mothers use to wash a childs baby bottle, cant remember the things name but should work a treat. Or you could consider just using boiling water.
You can also catch "bacteria" if you eat dinner off of the same plate every night without washing it...
I actually get a kick out of all those silly trendy water toting backpacks mountain bikers use (Camelbak, etc.). The tubes on those things are nearly impossible to clean and are in fact quite the ideal reservoir for bacteria. In the old days we used a "water bottle" mounted on a little bracket attached to our bicycles, how quaint.
All ya gotta do is wash the bottle in hot soapy water every couple of days. If you are really worried, soak it in water with 10% bleach for a couple of hours once a week.
Can I just point out that we, like our ancestors, live in an environment filled with all sorts of common bacteria that will do absolutely jack s*** to your health.
It simply isn't necessary or even advisable to regularly sterilze your drinking vessel of choice, unless (a) you have a severely compromised immune system; (b) you have an open wound in your mouth; and (c) you last filled up your DVOC in a stagnant pond or watercourse...in Burkina Faso).
Use metal
I've been using the same Nalgene bottle for the past year and have washed it maybe once a month since. I know, gross, but the weird thing is I haven't gotten sick once in the past year, and this is coming from a person who regularly suffered from three or four colds (and the flu) every year prior.
Wishful thinking or not, it could be that regular exposure to common bacteria strengthens the immune system.
Now about those brain damage claims...
I don't see how buying a fancy nalgene bottle is supposed to keep you germ-free.
It's not the container's fault if you don't wash it.
Soak it in a little bleach water, rinse thoroughly, let dry. Also takes iced tea stains out of plastic.
Ok, so your mouth is full of germs; bilions of them You backwash some of them into your water bottle. you fill your bottle up with fresh water which is *not* a culture medium. the germs don't grow if they have no food, nor an environment similar to your mouth.You drink wated from an refilled bottle, and introduce (perhaps) a few hundred organisms into your mouth where they can reunite with their billions of long-lost buddies.
Whatztheproblem?
the comment in the "brain damage" article warning folks to dump their bottles when they became cloudy ignores the fact that in re-use the outside becomes ... er ... scratched and cloudy by use.
the inside only gets scratched and cloudy if you have tounge studs.
Hot water and Soap for my bottles.
WRT to the sig bottles; how does one know when the inner lining has warn off - nothing like leaching aluminum into your bloodstream for some premature alhizmiers.
Saw this product at the lastest Natural Products Expo in Anaheim:
Klean Kanteen
I was given a klean kanteen as a Christmas gift by a friend who is active in breast cancer awareness. I was/am skeptical about my old plastic bottles causing cancer and brain damage, but the bottles are very handy and much nicer than the Nalgene bottles. Great for hiking and it has become my office water bottle. Check out their website for more articles on the risks of plastic.
http://www.kleankanteen.com/
Here are some other alternatives.
http://www.colehardware.com/hotline/2004/06/sigg.htm
http://www.metaefficient.com/metaefficient/archives/kitchen-items/a-lightweight-water-bottle-that-doesnt-leach.html
And on the eight glasses a day check this out:
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/water.htm
I have two of the klean kanteens and I love them. They are medical grade stainless steel and I use them because I was told by a biologist that synthetic estrogen is actually used as a hardener for plastics and this possibly could leach into the water after using plastic water bottles a number of times. The stainless steel actually makes the water taste so much better that Nalgene bottles (which I have also used for a number of years). I was also told not to microwave any food in those plastic containers such as the Glad throwaway kind and to only use glass cookware when microwaving because of the same leaching chemical effect. At the kleenkanteen website mentioned above you can read links to articles about the chemical leaching into the water.
Cheers,
Ryan
Whoops, I just found out that Bisphenol A is actually the systetic estrogen compound and "exposure causes meiotic aneuploidy in the female mouse". Basically it screws up female reproduction. Learn more at this biology article:
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/BPA-Mouse1apr03.htm
Cheers Again!
Ryan
ye olde salt + lemon juice + seltzer works pretty nice for cleaning plastic or glass water containers, too (don't try on aluminum ; ) ).
I fairly enjoy the green stuff in the bottom of one left alone for a few months. Chewy; and I never catch colds!
The earlier you can accelerate a plasticized or vinylized container's outgassing without consuming the water, the better.
Boiling water, Oven at lowest setting, etc. - Just don't drink anything hot out of it. Then leave it alone for a bit. The rate of subsequent leaching should be greatly reduced.
Some plastics should survive the 150-200 F (ex.: my bike bottle) and they're only getting that hot outside the oven if you bring 'em to death valley.
but don't do more than 1 or 2 things in the oven. I hate the taste of chemical byproducts in my apple pie. Damn valve covers!
I actually saw Dr. Patricia Hunt give a presentation on her findings involving Bisphenol A and laboratory mice, and what she seemed to be concerned with was not the potential for brain damage, but the unsually high occurance of Down's Syndrome in mice treated with Bisphenol A. Bisphenol A, you see, functions as a synthetic form estrogen among other things. Although estrogen has little effect on brain development, it does affect many other parts of the body. In the article you've mentioned, it never mentions brain damage. However, if you're still growing, or you're intending on becoming pregnant anytime in your life, yes, polycarbonate might not be a good idea.
Re: the comments on Camelbaks and other backpack+hose based systems - the best advise I never followed (but do now, having had a few bladder turn green on me) is to freeze the bladder whenever not in use. I actually use a Polar Pak "Bi Polar" Bladder, which has built in freezing liquid, so the double upside to freezing is reduced bacteria *and* cool refreshing water for hours. I occassionally wash the bladder, but freezing prolongs the inter-wash time...
I swear by my Platypus.
http://www.platypushydration.com/product_detail.aspx?ProdID=2
It's compact, it feels good to drink from, and people comment on it.
There is bacteria in my water bottle? WHAT!
Oh dear god... i could DIE! But wait, there are bacteria in my gut i can't live without. WITHOUT BACTERIA i will die! The ambivilance is terrifying. No bacteria and i die, but bacterial kill me.
ARGH, my fingers have bacteria on them, if i lick my fingers will that kill me too?
the presence of bacteria is normal. it is the dose that is important in the majority of cases.
American stupidity....
A good article on Nalgenes, cancer and the like is here: http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/17/40324e5d40a14?in_archive=1
A good article on Nalgenes, cancer and the like is here: http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/17/40324e5d40a14?in_archive=1
Hey, larue. Animal testing is good! Well, better than human testing. To complain about toxic chemical seepage and animal testing together is especially stupid. How would we know otherwise? Go, Nalgene!
1. Boiling to clean = bad idea. If you read the articles, they say that it's hot water that causes the most seepage. Warm, soapy water is all you need. The dishwasher only makes things worse.
2. 10% bleach? Are you going to perform surgery in the bottle, or do you just like the taste of bleach? Warm soapy water. All you need. Really.
Good article on plastic water bottles here:
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200311/lol5.asp
You fill your bottle up with fresh water which is *not* a culture medium.
You also get some protein and saliva in there, perhaps that's enough to do it.
SIGG? It's aliminium with plastic coating inside. They don't even tell you waht type of plastic it is, only that it meets US standards - as would all the plastic bottles taht are being talked about.
Re: camelbaks going green. salt + lemon juice will get rid of the green stuff.
Justin: my thinking was this:
-what if you could accelerate the leaching early, into a fluid (say boiling water).- at higher temps than could be attained even on the hottest day outside.
throw that fluid out and then rinse a bunch of times.
would the rate of subsequent leaching at lower temps be so low as to be insignificant?
note: I am not a female mouse, so cannot speak from that viewpoint.
I was worried about the same thing recently, and started using a SIGG bottle. It is not plastic on the inside, it is enameled. I haven't seen any tests on it, though.
Bethany
To clean a Camelbak, all you have to do is alternate bleach solution and baking soda solution. Give it a good rinse and you're good to go.
There is obviously quite a bit of discussion - and some conflicting conclusions about using plastic bottles for storing drinking water. There are several types of food-grade plastic, and from what I have read, the hard, often clear, plastics (polycarbonate) are more stable than the softer plastic (PET) which is often not transparent.
You can read reports of Bisphenol A leaching from polycarbonate bottles as mentioned in other posts. From what I can tell, it started with a study that did not really pertain to drinking water, water bottles, or humans! http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.92/news_detail.asp
As one of the referenced articles below mentions, the colder the water, the less the chance of it picking up something - also, of course, the longer water is in contact with something soluble, the greater the chance of it dissolving. If you can smell a plastic odor when you open the bottle, that means there are probably plastic compounds vaporizing - these would very probably also dissolve in the water. Heat and sunlight may eventually cause plastics to become less stable and deteriorate.
One article concludes, "Pump up with polypropylene. For sports bottles, switch to polypropylene (5). As of yet, no studies have linked this plastic and the leaching of harmful substances. High-density polyethylene, or HDPE (2), and low-density polyethylene, or LDPE (4), are other good choices, says Case Western's Hunt."
http://www.lifetimefitness.com/magazine/index.cfm?strWebAction=article_detail&intArticleId=363
Some other articles
http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/Halden_dioxins.html
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00959.htm
http://billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=2&display=rednews/2005/03/31/build/outdoors/45-gear-junkie.inc
http://www.leas.ca/News/WaterBottles.htm
I just use the polycarbonate bottles (or whatever Gatorade comes in), wash in cool water - sometimes with some soap, and haven't had anything fall off yet (or anything new grow, either for that matter). I believe the risks of drinking any type of water from the stable plastic bottles (and reusing them) is miniscule. As long as the bottles are cleaned with substances that will not cause the plastic to deteriorate, the bottles are not exposed to excessive heat, some precautions are made to keep them out of sunlight for extended periods, etc. the bottles should store water safely for quite a while. Obviously, if the bottle seems to be deteriorating or growing things, toss it and get another one.
You might find some useful information at:
http://www.cyber-nook.com/water
everyone is talking about boiling water bottles to keep them sterile, but apparently that's not good either. Your not supposed to microwave platic and there have been studies done that heating or freezing plastic causes chemicals to leach out, which can cause cancer. i don't know if this applies to all plastics or what, but as soon as i can get a polyethylene (HDPE) naglene bottle, i'm throwing out my lexan one.
WoW! thank you everyone for your input. These articles are great! What I am getting from all this research is that Patricia Hunt, a scientist, biologer or something like that, determined that when her lab mice were exposed to this BPA it was with negative results. I also understand that are Nalgene bottles are made out of a polycarbonate plastic with BPA at its roots. What I am not hearing distinctively is Whether these Nalgene bottles are actually leaking this stuff or not.
I understand in Patricia's study, the bottles were found leaking after being cleaned with particularly harsh chemicals. Yet there is suggestions (without clarity) that the Nalgene (clear) bottles may be leaking anyway.
Does anyone have any clear knowledge or links to articles that states clearly whether the bottles are leaking from regular use without particularly harsh cleaning materials?
Also, as an alternative, I like glass more than anything. I don't trust the aluminum Sigg bottles even if they are enamel on the inside. Does anyone know of a form of glass bottle made for easy carrying around (as with a handle of some sort)?
Also, I do like the Klean-Kanteens that are being mentioned
I was planning to buy a Nalgene bottle for its reusability until I found out about this brain damage problem. I really want a safe bottle that I can use on a daily basis. What alternatives do other people recommend? I think that I will probably look at the steel options because I will probably break the glass ones. Is the Klean Kanteen (stainless steel) a good option?
I have always heard it is best to cook with a good stainless steel pot, cast iron or pyrex, but I never thought of using stainless steel for my drinking water. I believe that is an awesome idea. In addition, this solves we waterholics plastic controversy. What are some suggestions for cleaning the klean kanteen?
A
Polypropylene (PP, "tupperware" material) is a safer alternative to Nalgene's polycarbonate.
It doesn't add taste to the water and hasn't been shown to leach bisephenol A. Soma Fabrications makes a bike style water bottle like this. (Breast Cancer fund was giving these away at their charity events.)
Regarding bacteria in your bottle, if you just rinse it out every day (with lite soap once a week), you should be all right. I have used the same bottle for 2 years and though It is not sparkling clean, I haven't gotten sick from it.
Stainless steel containers are cool too.
To clean a bottle, don’t use bleach (it was designed for chemical warfare for WW I). Soap is safe enough, but there are easier, simpler solutions which don’t leave a soapy film behind, nor use as much water to rinse out.
Boiling is not good because it promotes chemical leaching.
Unless you’ve used your bottle to transport pond scum, and you’ve always filled it with potable water, just rinsing with clean water an letting it dry is probably all you need to do.
For an added measure of sanitation, let it stand in direct sunlight for an hour or two.
Other options include using good old hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which is both safe and cheap.
Or use a couple of drops of good ol’ GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract) in a half bottle of water and shake. GSE will both kill germs, and is safe to drink.
Incidentally, bleach and hydrogen peroxide both kill germs by giving up an extra oxygen atom. The difference is that bleach is slower, and often produces carcinogenic byproducts.
Regarding Nalgene products, they offer both bottles that leach BPA (polycarbonate) and bottles that don't (HDPE). The ones that are Lexan polycarbonate (#7, known to leach BPA) are usually clear, hard, colorful bottles. The milky opaque Nalgene bottles are HDPE (#5, not known to leach BPA) and usually say it on the bottom of the container.
I really have no idea what's going on with the BPA and such, but I do have a few pointers for the people discussing bacterial contamination in waterbottles, and greening camelbaks.
The Camelbaks is probably the most interesting. There is a species of bacteria known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is prety much found everywhere. It can grow in plain water, and many places that typically, you'd think would be inhospitable to life. They've even found this stuff in hot tubs. Now, it's pretty much harmless to anyone with a fully-functional immune system, but it has been proven to be very fatal to people with compromised immunity ESPECIALLY those with cystic fibrosis.
And one of the key things that will distinguish this species in a medical laboratory is that it produces a blue green pigment, similar to what I'm hearing people describe in their camelbak pouches and such.
Not harmful to those with a normal immune system, as I mentioned, but keep an eye out if you happen to be immunocompromised. It might be safer to throw it out if it actually becomes physically green.
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