Below is the full article from the Ottawa Citizen. Bottom line, there was BPA in the lining of some of the SIGG bottles. You can check here http://mysigg.com/liner to see if you have the old or the new style (the old ones were manufactured prior to August 2008). If you do, send an email to liners@mysigg.com and request replacement bottles. Apparently they are sending out the shipping lables to send your old ones in and a voucher to get a new one. I sent in an email about my two bottles, we'll see what happens.
As an interesting aside, while they were testing the SIGG bottles they tested a lot of the "no name" metal bottles with liners and found BPA in many of them. More BPA than they found in the SIGG bottles.
News article....
OTTAWA — When the anti-plastics movement gained steam a few years ago, Brandi Nicholauson tossed out all the plastic water bottles in her house and coughed up the extra cash to buy her kids metal bottles.
Today, the Nova Scotia mom is one of thousands of consumers trying to make sense of the latest news. SIGG Switzerland has revealed that until last August, its Swiss-made aluminum reusable bottle, an iconic symbol for the health-conscious consumer and the outdoorsy environmentalist, was lined with an epoxy liner containing trace amounts of bisphenol A, which the federal government considers a toxic substance.
"Never did I expect them to have BPA in a liner. To me, it's pretty obvious that people are buying metal bottles because they're afraid of plastic and the BPA issue," Nicholauson said Tuesday.
"I feel a little bit mislead. That's how I feel. Whoever is making metal bottles out there are definitely benefiting from people being afraid of BPA and plastic."
Welcome to the post-plastic world where consumers are left wondering where remnants of plastic or bisphenol A could be lurking with more companies trying to cash in on the metal craze.
The SIGG aluminum bottle quietly switched to new a "BPA-free EcoCare liner" in August 2008, but broadcast the change last week in a notice posted on the company website.
CEO Steve Wasik reassured customers that all tests of the older model made with a liner containing trace amounts of BPA show no leaching of the toxin. He also explained the timing.
"The primary reason that I am writing this letter today is because I believe that the BPA conversation has changed dramatically in the last 12 months. Last year, the primary concern was that of BPA leaching from bottles. Since that time, the dialogue has evolved such that now some people are concerned about the mere presence of BPA."
In an interview, Wasik also noted that some retailers had been marketing SIGG bottles as BPA-free, so the company wanted to set the record straight about its transition to a BPA-free liner.
"Our goal is to clean up the communications to make sure that the retailer has all the facts, so in turn, the consumer has all the facts so he or she can make an educated decision," said Wasik.
SIGG stopped shipping old inventory made with the old lining on Tuesday. The company is also offering a free exchange to any customer who mails in their old bottle.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods in Canada has pulled all inventory made with the old liner from store shelves. It is also offering a full refund to any customer who returns a SIGG bottle to any of its stores.
Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence and co-author of the book Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health, said SIGG's "belated move on their part is good," but the company could still suffer permanent brand damage.
"I think SIGG is in some difficulty here, and rightly so. They were knowingly benefitted from consumers trying to avoid BPA plastic bottles and still using BPA themselves. They're really playing with fire with their brand," said Smith.
In April 2008, the federal government labelled Bisphenol A, a hormone disrupter that can cause reproductive damage and lead to prostate and breast cancer in adulthood, as a toxic substance. This paved the way for an imminent ban on polycarbonate plastic baby bottles; unlike other plastics, BPA is a building block of polycarbonate plastic.
By then, retailers in Canada had already begun to pull polycarbonate baby bottles and reusable water bottles from store shelves.
That's when Jeff Cresswell started noticing a flood of metal reusable water bottles in the marketplace.
The co-owner of Klean Kanteen, the original BPA-free reusable stainless steel water bottle, said the latest development with SIGG is a good reminder for consumers to stick with name brands and to conduct research about bottle manufacturers.
"We answer to ourselves. If we're not doing the right thing, I don't sleep at night," said Cresswell of the family-run business based in California.
"At the time, there were already questions about what is exactly in the liners of aluminum bottles. With stainless steel, there is no need for the liner. Instantly, we got rid of the problem."
Laken USA, which manufactures aluminum reusable water bottles, finds itself in a different predicament. Anticipating a flood of questions from customers in the wake of the SIGG revelation, the Montana-based company is drafting an open letter to customers to explain that "Laken should not be lumped in with the denials and inaccuracies of competitor's claims."
Until June 2008, Laken also used a bottle coating with a high-density phenolic epoxy that contained traces of BPA — and "fully disclosed" this fact to retailers and customers, said Greg Garrigues, who also points out the company quarantined old stock at the time and only filled new orders with its new "100 per cent BPA free liner."
SIGG took a different tact.
In 2007, the Environmental Working Group published a guide to BPA-free product that listed SIGG water bottles as containing BPA. After SIGG complained its bottles did not contain plastic liners with bisphenol A, the environmental group removed SIGG from the guide.
In April 2008, SIGG declined to reveal any specifics about its liner, citing proprietary rights with a third-party producer of its liner formula.
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