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BPA Leaches From Polycarbonate Bottles Into Humans

Posted by kdawson on from the glass-makes-a-comeback dept.

Linus the Turbonerd sends in the bulletin that BPA, a toxic chemical used in the production of polycarbonate, the plastic composing hard, clear water bottles, has been found to leach out of such containers, directly into the water that their users consume. "In addition to polycarbonate bottles, which are refillable and a popular container among students, campers and others and are also used as baby bottles, BPA is also found in dentistry composites and sealants and in the lining of aluminum food and beverage cans. ... 'We found that drinking cold liquids from polycarbonate bottles for just one week increased urinary BPA levels by more than two-thirds. If you heat those bottles, as is the case with baby bottles, we would expect the levels to be considerably higher. This would be of concern since infants may be particularly susceptible to BPA's endocrine-disrupting potential,' said Karin B. Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at HSPH and Harvard Medical School and senior author of the study."

9 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Old? by tulmad · · Score: 4, Informative

    Isn't this extremely old news? Companies have been making BPA-free plastic bottles now for a long long time, including baby bottles.

    --
    "In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
    1. Re:Old? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's still extremely old news. This study merely confirmed what people have known for years. If they hadn't, they wouldn't have dropped BPA-containing plastics from their product lines.

      It should be noted that the more flexible plastics often used in water bottles, such as HDPE and PET or PETE, do not contain BPA.

  2. Bulletin? Bulletin? by btempleton · · Score: 4, Informative

    These bottles were banned two years ago, though not in the USA. This is hardly a bulletin.

    --
    Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  3. Nalgene by HappyCycling · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nalgene, one of, if not the biggest producers of the 'indestructable' plastic bottles with BPA, still does not acknowledge the health detriments even though they stopped producing those bottles. Probably because of liability reasons... http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/technical/bpaInfo.html

  4. Very old news? by brunes69 · · Score: 3, Informative

    BPA in plastic bottles was banned in Canada last year.

    1. Re:Very old news? by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 3, Informative

      I believe it was only banned for use in baby bottles.

      This is because babies are probably more susceptible to BPA and because baby bottles are heated, increasing the amount leached.

      --
      http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  5. Re:Bulletin? Bulletin? by Mr_eX9 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Companies have been ditching BPA on their own...government intervention is unnecessary. If you wanna whine about government catering to business interests, you're definitely barking up the wrong tree.

  6. Re:Delicious Uranium by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Informative

    At least RTF summary before you accuse people of mass hysteria. It says that aluminum beverage can liners contain BPA.

  7. Re:half-life by man_ls · · Score: 5, Informative

    The bottle itself is a polymer of Bisphenol-A sub-units. As the bottle itself naturally breaks down from exposure to light, heat, etc. the polymer sub-units are liberated into the free BPA that is a problem. As long as there's a bottle made of polycarbonate, the water stored in it will have BPA.