My Cancer Cup

When I first read the news, I was drinking green tea out of a red Nalgene (I cut the annoying plastic strip that keeps the top attached to the bottle), and wasn’t that alarmed.

I’ve weathered over 8 years of forwarded tree-hugging emails from friends, newspaper articles clippings mailed to me from my mother (here’s an article from 2003!) and blog links of pot-smoking hippies who proclaim the Bispherol death that resided at the bottom of my 32 ounce plastic cup.

Since 2000, I’ve accumulated about 10 Nalgene bottles that look like the ones soaking in the sun to the left. Some blue, clear and even pink (I stole my fiance’s), and they are an integral part of my day. From a morning cup of tea to my last sip of Surge after an evening workout, Nalgene bottles have been good to me and my weirdo eating habits.

But, when Nalgene posted this release on their site, I realized this wasn’t a pre-May sweeps scare tactic to hook newspaper readers and TV viewers. My favorite cup is being discontinued!

I called Nalgene’s customer service line to see if there was plans for a recall. Unfortunately, Nalgene isn’t fully admitting there’s a problem, and calling the “phase out” due to “consumer demand.” In fact, the FDA just formed an agency-wide BPA task force to review concerns noted in a “Bisphenol A Draft Report” recently issued by scientists from the National Toxicology Program and in a separate risk assessment by Canadian health officials.  The FDA states that based on its ongoing review, “we believe there is a large body of evidence that indicates that FDA-regulated products containing BPA currently on the market are safe and that exposure levels to BPA from food contact materials, including for infants and children, are below those that may cause health effects. However, we will continue to consider new research and information as they become available.”

The FDA says it isn’t recommending anyone discontinue using BPA-containing products; however, “concerned consumers should know that several alternatives to polycarbonate baby bottles exist, including glass baby bottles.”  The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, also maintains potential human exposure to BPA is minimal and poses no known risk to human health.

My first thought wasn’t the BPA promise of “possible precancerous changes to my prostate,” but what will I drink my protein shakes when I grow tired of my current cache!?

I love the Nalgene bottle for two reasons:

1. It’s the only bottle where the scooper fits into the bottle, so the powder doesn’t spill all over the place, AND
2. When you shake it, the Nalgene nevers leaks, spills or explodes!

 

Every health food and sports supplement store sells a version of this awful bottle below. While the mouth is perfect to pour in your protein or carb powder of choice, the top never screws on correctly, and you end up wearing more of your shake than you consume.

So, seeking out a new fleet of shakers hasn’t been too tough – in fact, the Globe has a nice line up of BPA-free bottles on their site and REI has even stepped and stocked the shelves with cancer-free alternatives. 

Others will be flocking to YouTube to figure out how to blow up these ticking timebombs…

Even the first lawsuit has popped and others are trying to sell their cancer cups on eBay to those brave souls who can’t get enough BPA in their system.

So, I will continue to toast my alleged cancer cup, as I’ll spend the weekend roaming the aisles of REI for a collection of BPA-free bottles and begin my collection anew.

~ by tdparnell on April 25, 2008.