Polycarbonate (aka Nalgene) bottles

For a while now we have been hearing about the risks associated with using polycarbonate plastics due to the the endocrine-disrupting hormone Bisphenol-A in the bottles (recycle symbol 7 on the bottles) and Phthalates (recycle symbol 3 on plastics). We were largely ignoring this until recently when MEC pulled all polycarbonate Nalgene bottles from their shelves. Now today, a US study showed that Bisphenol A is most harmful to infants. Scary.

We used to all use Nalgene bottles. We had the sippy cups all the way up to the big jugs that sat on both Dave and my desks at work. I brought in a glass and have been using that. I am now drinking tap water as the water coolers here at my work are all polycarbonate bottles.

Over the weekend our family got stocked up on Klean Kanteens. We bought them from a place in BC with a great price that actually had them in stock and charged no shipping on orders over $60. For those of you looking to get them in Ottawa, I suggest www.ecomama.ca. She has the best prices in town and is frequently downtown to arrange for free pick up if you happen to be in or near the core. Otherwise she is in Orleans for pick up or you can pay for shipping. I found a store in Toronto that is willing to discount on big orders (we were asking about an order of 8 bottles they offered me 20%). They have free shipping on orders over $200.

The research:

There are a lot of reasons to consider switching for all of the members of your family. Take a look at the sippy cups, pacifiers, cups, straws, utensils, bottles et al that you may have in your home. Here are some links that I have turned up in my quick searching:

§ The chart at this link is an awesome one to print off and post where you will be able to reference it. It speaks of the different plastics and points out the "bad" ones (3, 6 and 7 for those of you who would like the Coles notes version);

§ I found this information that someone has posted and done a whole bunch of searches of their own http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/11/z-report-bisphenol-in-baby-bottles-and.html;

§ This isn't much, to make my decisions, I actually looked into it much further. I never click on many links on a web page though, so I don't figure you will either, do a Google search and see what is out there.

But part of the Klean Kanteen is made from plastic-what gives?

The plastic parts of the Kanteen are apparently made from non-leaching plastic.

Here is an email with confirmation from Klean Kanteen about the lack of phthalates in the sippy spout that they are using on the Kanteens:

From: Chris Carlson <chris@kleankanteen.com>

To: Saje

Sent: Wed Jan 09 19:05:51 2008

Subject: RE: inquiry about Phthalates in the KK

All of the plastics that Klean Kanteen uses are made from plastic #5 (polycarbonate) which is a non-leaching plastic and does not contain any phthalates. Phthalates are in PVC plastic which is plastic #3.

Chris Carlson

Awareness Representative

4345 Hedstrom Way

Chico, CA 95973

800 767 3173 x303 t

530 345 3568 f

A great quick reference chart from the web about baby bottles and sippy cups

So Saje, what should *I* do for *my* family?

The bottom line of course is that Health Canada is not done studying the issue and they will need more time before they issue a statement. You need to make the decisions that are right for your family. I can tell you that we have switched away from these plastics where possible and we are looking for ways to do it more.