Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a key building block of polycarbonate, a lightweight, high-performance plastic used in a variety products including drinks bottles (1)

Bisphenol-A has attracted a lot of attention in the scientific community in recent years as many feared it would have adverse effects on human health. Partly because a number of studies found BPA had adverse effects on laboratory animals, as an endocrine disruptor (2)

In 2002,the scientific uncertainty around Bisphenol A, led the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Food to reduce the amount that could safely be eaten daily by five fold . In January 2007 the European Food Standards Agency concluded that this reduction was no longer necessary. (3)

To me the evidence shows two things. One it’s not safe for animals and two, it is safe for humans. All too often our species-centric ways have landed us in trouble. Because it is safe for humans doesn’t mean it will not end up in ecosystems, much like DDT did in the 1960s. The world is already suffering enough thanks to man-made chemical pollutants.

The New York Times pointed out in August 2007 that it takes about 1.5 million barrels of oil to make the bottles for the bottled water Americans use each year, enough to fuel 100,000 cars. In addition, the paper noted, only about 23 percent of these bottle are recycled.

In recognition of this need to re-use bottles, Camelback have started to convert their entire line of polycarbonate re-usable water bottles to a new material that is 100% free of BPA. Great news for the environment and I applaud Camelbak for acting so consciensciously towards the environment.

Camelbak were kind enough to let me test one of their new bottles over the Summer.

The first thing I noticed about the new bottle was that it did not have the same plastically smell like many other bottles. The bottle is available in nine colors in sizes of 0.50 liter, 0.75 liter and 1.0 liter, this innovative product uses the no-leak CamelBak Big Bite Valve™, which offers easy, spill-proof sipping for active and on-the-go-consumers. I personally found this quite useful. The straw that connects to the vave means you can drink from the bottle whilst it’s upright, however the straw can be easily removed if you require a bottle that can be tipped up. The valve on the bottle also means that there a continuous flow of air into the bottle while you are drinking and therefore no vacuum effect for the drinker. The design is robust and can neatly tuck away in backpacks and even drinks carriers on mountain bikes. I dropped it a number of times and it survived.

Camelbak’s new BPA free bottle is currently only available in the USA, but can be purchased internationally via US stockists that ship internationally.

References

(1) http://www.bisphenol-a.org/about/infosheets.html
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A#Endocrine_disruption
(3) http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2007/jan/bisa