Yesterday morning I was making waffles while the Today Show family kept me company. Matt Lauer started talking about plastic bottles and how they could be harming you. I thought the segment would be about reusing the plastic bottles bottled water comes in. I had heard a while back how it was bad to keep using those bottles over and over since they were not meant for more than one use.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were actually attacking my precious CamelBak water bottle. Actually they were attacking my new water bottle, since my first CamelBak was lost forever at Ceasar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

The woman at the beginning of the segment mentions filling her bottle up five times a day, and she is holding a CamelBak. I felt sorry for her CamelBak, she seemed to love hers as much as I love mine.

I was frustrated with the segment which told us plastic is labeled with a number (1 to 7) and it really only focused on 1 and 7. And it then turned into number 7 bashing because 7 is where you will find the chemical bisphenol-A (aka BPA), a chemical which will effect your hormones, specifically those found in our reproduction organs.

That is what caused my ears perked up.

I remembered a blog post (I actually put it on my del.icio.us list) about BPA free kids sippy cups/ bottles. Z Recommends has been following this problem and creating reports (this is the most recent version of their report), speaking with companies (I was really impressed with their discussion with Tupperware), and making a really comprehensive list of companies who are BPA-free.

Back to my water bottle- I was really, really sad. I stewed about it for most of the day, and finally had a moment to go to the actual CamelBak website to see if they even had a response to the issue. And how excited was I to see their front page touting their new BPA-free Better Bottle? It is made from a new Tritan material, which is free of bisphenol-A. I was a bit miffed to see it has the classic cap, since one of the reasons I love CamelBak is the bite and sip valve. But after digging a little deeper (or just clicking the FAQs) I read:

Our CamelBak Better Bottle with Bite Valve will transition to this new material in Spring 2008 while our Classic Cap version will only be made from Tritan.

I found it a bit odd that the Today Show didn’t mention there are companies working toward BPA-free products. The segment showed people with CamelBak bottles, but specifically said Nalgene when doing the Q&A at the end of the segment. According to Z Recommends, Nalgene falls under the Poor category, where poor is defined

Companies rated “Poor” demonstrate an unwillingness to acknowledge the legitimacy of consumers’ concerns about Bisphenol-A and/or offer few or no BPA-free products.

After looking at the Nalgene website, they also offer a bottle made from Tritan, and a few other BPA-free options, but their front page condemns the Today show segment, saying BPA is safe.

I’m waiting for the followup segment on today’s Today Show for more information, (and to see if Nalgene went in front of the cameras). But for now, I’m throwing away my CamelBak (SOB!) and heading to Rock Creek to see if they have the Better Bottles made from Tritan. I would rather be on the cautious side of this debate, since reproductive hormones are an integral part of Fuller actually getting a brother or sister. And if If I spill on myself, I’ll be even more happy when the bite valves made from Tritan come on the market.

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