Chemical found in trendy new water bottles has some calling for better disclosure

Following the nationwide trend to go green, water bottles made by SIGG and Nalgene can be found throughout campus, at the IU Bookstore and T.I.S. College Bookstore.

However, recent research has linked negative effects to Bisphenol A, a chemical found in plastics and more recently in SIGG aluminum water bottle liners.

“BPA has been found to mimic estrogen and hormones in the body,” said Emily Smith, customer service supervisor at Klean Kanteen, a company that sells BPA-free, stainless steel bottles. “Mainly, they disrupt the endocrine system, and they’ve also been linked to breast and prostate cancers.”

A 2003-04 survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in 93 percent of 2,517 urine samples from people six years and older, according to a National Toxicology Program study.

“BPA hasn’t been studied long enough to really know what the effects are on our bodies or the environment,” Smith said. “I think BPA definitely deserves some more looking into by the FDA to determine whether or not we should ban it.”

But there was public outcry when SIGG failed to disclose that their bottles contained BPA. Smith said SIGG claimed their bottles didn’t leach any BPA because of their patented leach-proof liner, but never said the bottles were BPA-free.

The floodgates of BPA studies were opened, and in April 2008, Canada banned BPA in baby bottles. Meanwhile, the FDA has said it doesn’t recommend that anyone discontinue using products that contain BPA.

Smith said she also believes the stainless steel movement is catching on.
“They are huge on college campuses, which is a good indicator of a certain shift,” she said. “It’s all about the young people. They’re the future, and these things are important to them, so I just expect that it will continue.”

However, not everyone is convinced that stainless steel is a perfect alternative.
“You’re replacing a devil you know with a devil you don’t know,” said Matt Patterson, an environmental chemistry and toxicology graduate student. “Stainless steel can leach as well – it just leaches different stuff.”

Patterson also sees this in plastic water bottles.

“They’ve replaced BPA in plastic water bottles with something else, and we don’t know what the something else is,” he said. “And it’s not necessarily better than BPA.”

Kevin Dick, associate at the Delta Institute in Chicago, said the only groups that could be potentially at high risk from exposure to BPA are infants and children.

“One of the reasons that BPA was a big deal is because when you’re developing as an infant and you have an estrogen mimic, it might cause all sorts of problems,” he said. “We live in a society that’s really afraid of exposure to things, and I think you just have to remember that your age matters.”

Dick, who has a master’s degree in environmental science, said he believes that the responsibility to avoid harmful substances lies with the consumer, and that there’s little to be concerned about with BPA.

“People need to just get educated on what’s really a concern and what might be hyped up by the media,” he said. “There are a lot of other things that are released into the environment in greater numbers and larger concentrations that are a lot worse that don’t make the news.”

And while some might call for a ban on BPA similar to Canada’s, Dick is not convinced that viable alternatives exist.

“There are numerous things in the environment field that are called ‘green products’ that have their own environmental issues,” he said.

Bobbie Saccone, a registered dietician at the IU Health and Wellness Center, said concerned students can take steps to protect themselves from exposure to harmful chemicals such as BPA.

“I would tell students that if your water bottle is plastic and disposable, be sure that you’re not reusing them because we know that lots of different compounds can leak into the water once it’s exposed to air,” she said. “Also, they should wash their (reusable) bottles.”

Saccone is against a ban on BPA and also doesn’t see it as high-risk.

“Putting an all-out ban on something like that is going to limit some of your buying choices,” she said. “I would bet that there are a million other compounds that are at the same stage as BPA with research. Overall, I think the risks are minimal, but certainly, handle your products properly.”

As for college students, Saccone sees other, more prominent health risks like energy drinks and supplements.

“We are throwing a lot of unregulated things in energy drinks, like guarana and ginseng, that have caffeine-like effects, and other types of herbal products that we really know little about,” she said.

Saconne also said the marketing of alcohol combined with energy drinks can be potentially harmful from the “up” of caffeine and the “down” of alcohol.

“Whenever I teach a class on caffeine, there’s always at least a third of the class that says that they’ve at least tried those types of drinks,” she said.

On supplements, Saconne said she sees a lot of self-prescribing and questions their validity.

“Generally, the use of supplements are heavily marketed toward college students for either improved performance for athletics, muscle-building, to help you to concentrate or give you energy,” she said. “Supplements are something that people prescribe to themselves. You name it, there’s a supplement for it.”

Saconne also said she sees supplements as a big issue on college campuses because they’re difficult to regulate.

“There are some regulations in place now, but still you can’t control how much somebody is going to buy of something over the counter, how often they’re going to use it, and so forth,” she said. “And oftentimes use is based on manufacturer’s suggestions rather than science.”