The "BPA Story" Never Ends

We... our entire promotional products industry... have been watching and waiting for any new developments in the bisphenol A story, argument, war, whatever since some national governments summarily banned the plastic additive from drinking water bottles, baby bottles, ANYTHING to do with food. It has been an up and down fight, and rather than joining the fray, many plastic bottle manufacturers have simply gone with the flow and offered BPA-free bottles.

What this means is there are fewer polycarbonate bottles on the market. PolyCarb bottles are the hard, clear bottles which many people prefer because you can see what's in them.

The third week of August 2008, our Food and Drug Administration released a "draft assessment" stating the BPA DOES NOT pose a health hazard when used in food containers.

A part of these findings are based upon the methodology used in the original product testing. It was noted that one of the tests involved heating a liquid in the bottle to an extremely high temperature, then testing the liquids in the containers for signs of evil chemicals. I don't know about you, but I usually lose or break a water bottle before I have a chance to wash it 500 times, and I am certainly not going to drink a hot liquid from it. Personally I viewed the original findings as based upon an unrealistic premise.

The FDA's draft continues, saying that exposure to the small amounts of BPA which may migrate from containers into the food they hold are not dangerous to infants or adults.

Bisphenol A is used in the production of the plastics, but it is not a part of the final product. BPA residue is washed away with normal dish washing. Any traces which are left are not harmful.

Interesting how we can be in the middle of the fight, yet we are simultaneously on the sidelines. Our preferred bottles are polycarbonates. We will continue to use them. But we also continue to offer bottles which are guaranteed by the manufacturers to be BPA-free. Most are not nearly as attractive or are twice the cost or more of the polycarb bottles. An alternative is bottles with stainless steel linings, but that, too, drives the cost up.

We believe that the BPA "scare" was a knee-jerk reaction to something which someone heard at a party. I am not being facetious; buzzwords make great press. Like: emissions from a cellphone antenna will turn your brain to mush. My favorite is hearing a terrifying misuse of the term "stall" when applied to anything aviation-related. But I digress.

We continue to watch the BPA story, and it is, indeed, never-ending.

The FDA Weighs In; BPA in Plastic Bottles is OK

The continuing saga of BPA

We have been following closely the recent developments in the story of a chemical compound called bisphenol A (BPA), a hardening agent found in many plastics. In an earlier entry I noted international confusion about what it is, why it might be a danger to health, how it was tested and some conclusions of that testing, whether valid or not. The story continues.

The federal government is wonderful to behold. Many people before me have observed that some government agencies have names so long and complicated that there must be precious little room on a page of stationery for a message.

On Tuesday, June10th, at a hearing held by [get this] the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, a panelist from the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to ease public concerns about the health hazards of BPA used in some plastic products, said that the agency has no reason to recommend that consumers stop using products containing BPA. Small amounts of bisphenol A can be released as plastics break down. Dr. Norris Alderson, the Food and Drug Administration's associate commissioner for science, said, however, that the level of exposure was safe. He further noted that some studies had reported higher release levels than projected by the agency, but many of those studies were conducted under unrealistic conditions.

A group of Democratic senators and consumer groups continues to be sufficiently concerned that they are calling for a ban of BPA in all children's products, including baby bottles and sippy cups.

The National Toxicology Program said in a recent draft report that there is "some concern" that bisphenol A can cause changes in behavior and the brain, as well as reduce survival and birth weight in fetuses. Those conclusions were drawn from animal studies and would be a stretch to equate to human behavior.

The bottom line becomes -- the FDA has approved the use of BPA in plastics. If you want to go with that, fine. But once again, if you don't want any BPA in any water bottles you might order from us, the you won't HAVE any BPA.

Information collected from the Wall Street Journal, June 11, written by Melanie Trottman; and from an Associated Press story published by the Arizona Republic

A quick note about USB "Flash Drives"

We are always doing our best to keep up with possible scams in our industry. We have just been advised of a new one involving Flash Drives or Thumb Drives or Memory Sticks or USB drives....

A new software has appeared in China which may be loaded onto the chip in a flash drive. When you plug in the flash drive and click "Get Info", it will indicate that the flash drive has a lot more memory than it actually does. A 64 MB chip may read 1 GB; a 128 MB chip may read 2 GB. This could lead to some really bent feelings between us and a client.

It is for this reason that we check with suppliers we TRUST before ordering any flash drives. It is one of these suppliers in Canada who brought this to our attention. This company is purchasing the software (for $80!) in order to try to find a way to defeat it. We do NOT buy direct from China; we buy through established importers who will stand behind what they offer.

This supplier also notes that this week has seen a DECREASE in pricing for the "real thing"; chips of 1,2, 4, 8, 16 GB. It seems that we have entered the "slow season" for chip manufacturers, so prices have moderated for the time being.

Once again, if you come across a deal that seems to good to be true, it probably is.

About Airshows, Dawn to Dusk and Beyond

Since this BLOG reflects my personal views, I want to address another area of my business. In addition to the prominence of Showline Promotional Products in the advertising specialties industry, I am a former radio/TV personality, a commercial voice-over artist, and since 1977, an airshow or flying show announcer.


Many years ago when I first entered the business of airshows, it was my eternal hero, Art Scholl, who restated the old showbiz maxim; "Leave 'em wanting more!" When I began announcing airshows, the overall running time (including a jet team if a show was fortunate enough to get one) was three to maybe three and a half hours. The gates would open at 9 or 10 AM, spectators would stream in and find a good place to watch, and many would walk around the grounds to look at civilian and military static displays. The show started at Noon or maybe 1 PM. When the show ended, folks left saying what a great show it had been. By 4:30 or 5 PM, the venue was clear.


About 12 or 15 years ago, shows began to run longer. A LOT longer. Gates would open at 9 AM, the first act flew at 9:15, and the finale landed around 4:30 PM. It seems that it was Air Force shows that did this first. I recall one Armed Forces Day weekend, a nationally-known act with a national sponsor got the call to fly at 9:15, and there was a great moaning and gnashing of teeth. He was essentially flying in front of no one. The next day, the F-15 tactical demo got the 0915 fly call. The pilot said that was fine, because he knew he could fly home and be in the pool by Noon. The point is that the early flights flew to very few people.


As for the acts who flew later, from altitude they could see people leaving as early as 1 PM, even a show featuring great talent. If there were a jet team (Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, Snowbirds, or a foreign team), I would ask families where they were going. Their answers were uniformly, "We have seen enough; we want to beat the traffic; we can watch from the car." They were just worn out, and usually the heat of the day had not yet arrived.


One of the reasons given for shows running longer was that the vendors -- purveyors of food and drink, wearables, videos, pins, posters, etc. -- wanted more time to sell their stuff. Actually, opening gates at 9 or 10 AM and not flying the show until Noon or 1 PM would still give vendors the same amount of time, but that reasoning has been ignored. A longer show is not a BETTER show; it is just a LONGER show.


Professional sports are an example of not making a form of entertainment a test of endurance. Barring overtime most pro sports are a three hour or less event. Before instant replay, NFL games were three hours. Including fights, NHL games ran two and a half hours. NBA games were two and a half hours; considering 48 minutes of game time, even that is a stretch. Baseball, one of the few team sports not played against a clock, used to run three hours or less. With two and a half minutes of commercials between half-innings vs one minute 20 years ago, games have become painfully longer. And now, with all the preening, posturing, stomping around the pitcher's mound or home plate, baseball's Commissioner Bud Selig has directly ordered officials and players to pick up the pace. 15 seconds between pitches, managers have to jog to and from the pitcher's mound. Less and less do we have to put up with the mind-numbing mass of dead air and the player who has to readjust his batting gloves after every pitch.


NASCAR is huge on television and in person. For the Vendors at the track, you will not hear NASCAR officials changing the Subway 500 to the Subway 550 so the vendors have time to sell more.


Those interminably long airshows are hard on all performers. The heat and humidity, the altitude of the field (and density altitude, if you are a pilot), the focus, the waiting around is not good for anyone, including the spectators. Through the years we have found most assuredly that fatigue can be a killer. For a 9 AM show start, we as performers are usually up at 5:30 AM, trying to dress and eat breakfast for a 7 AM brief. Announcers still have work to do after the brief, before they can go out to the stage and set up for the day. Whatever happened to the 9 AM performers briefing, report to station (airplane or stage) at 11, and fly the show beginning at Noon or 1 PM?


Sometimes we don't work in the best of weather. We'd all enjoy 75 degrees and a 5 knot breeze, but there is rain, wind, and on more than one occasion, snow. And the spectators have to be out in the same conditions.


I wonder when someone will get the message that a longer show is NOT really a better show. Of course the Air Force makes a show longer by putting ten or fifteen minutes between acts; THAT is real entertaining. But making a show longer by hiring more acts makes it more EXPEN$IVE! And having an act which flew at 9:30 AM fly again at 2 PM should answer the question, "Am I, as a show, treating these folks as professionals or as cattle?"


The escalating cost of fuel is forcing some shows to re-think their overall duration. To think that the loss of value of the dollar might actually be a blessing is foreign to my thinking. But maybe we will get back to a three hour show, and our spectators can get home in time for an evening meal, wanting to go to the next show. We will have left them wanting more.

What in heck is BPA, and is it in my Water Bottle?

Plastic Water Bottles: ARE THEY SAFE?

We are becoming buried in emails, articles, and mailings with reference to the safety of the chemical "Bisphenol A" (BPA) which may or may not be resident in products we offer. First and foremost, our concern is with our clients' health and well-being; if a client orders water bottles, we will ASK if they want BPA-free plastic bottles. If a client specifies "No BPA," SHOWLINE will specify in our purchase orders to the manufacturers that the plastics will NOT contain any BPA. We are not making a judgment on the safety of plastics containing BPA; we will simply specify that it will not be an ingredient in a particular order of plastic containers.

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Plastic bottles have a recycling stamp and usually a resin code on the bottom, either within or next to the triangular recycling symbol. These codes are numbered 1 through 7. We were told at an industry trade show that, as a rule of thumb, products with the resin codes 1 [Polyethylene Terephthalate or PET], 2 [High Density Polyethylene or HDPE], 4 [Low Density Polyethylene or LDPE] and 5 [Polypropylene or PP] were free of BPA, and that products showing resin codes 3 [Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC], 6 [Polystyrene or PS] and 7 [OTHER, which may be a combination of several resins] may NOT be free of BPA.

I Googled many files from the American Chemistry Council. One entitled "Plastic Packaging Resins" lists the seven resin codes and descriptions, properties, applications and products made with recycle content for each. Nowhere is BPA mentioned. http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/bin.asp?CID=1102&DID=4645&DOC=FILE.PDF

From MedicineNet.com I read this article on BPA: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=88802 In the article it notes: "Polycarbonate plastics that contain bisphenol A usually have a No. 7 on the bottom...." I am bewildered, because it does not mention resin codes 3 or 6.

In the May 2008 issue of Consumer Reports (tm) appears a feature "Recalls & Safety Alerts," specifically entitled, "A new focus on plastic ingredient [sic] in bottles and cans." This article summarizes the agreements and disagreements of governments and health organizations around the world. The next-to-bottom line reminds me of the O.J. Simpson trial, with lawyers and prosecutors arguing over "what OUR experts say is...", "Well, OUR experts say...." Offered in conclusion, CU suggests that we avoid polycarbonates with the recycling code 7 or the letters "PC," or both. However number 7 bottles made with BPA-free PES (polyethersulphone) will NOT have the "PC" marking. So this means what to me? I can safely offer a number 7 bottle with no marking other than the number 7? Furthermore, other BPA-free plastic alternatives include polyethylene, which may be marked with codes 1, 2, and 5. There is no mention of resin code 3 (polyvinyl chloride) which we have elsewhere been directed in so many words to avoid.

From the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group I read an article about human safety and BPA. This, as you might imagine, is very Pro-BPA. However, it seems to indicate a miniscule risk of BPA doing any damage to humans: "Consumers would have to eat more than 500 pounds of food and beverages in contact with polycarbonate plastic or epoxy resins every day of their lives to exceed exposure levels determined to be safe by the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

There are additional papers from the Polycarbonate/BPA Global Group of which may be found on the web.

When word came out about BPA possibly being found in the liners of baby bottles, suddenly BPA became hot press; the mention of "leeching" and "baby bottles" in the same breath meant becoming glued to the television, awaiting the further details. The news seldom makes any mention of what the presence of BPA in a plastic actually means. They WILL say "unsafe", but that is an opinion, not a fact. Sadly it seems that "BPA" has become a buzzword that a vast majority of the public doesn't understand. This is not unlike "airline safety" or "handguns", or if you will go back forty years or so, "cyclamates." Before that, "fluoridation."

In the hundreds of manufacturers' special offers we receive each week, one entitled "No BPA Water Bottles!!!" caught my eye. The offer is for a "new soft squeezable co-poly water bottle, with sparkling clarity, high gloss and quality." The bottle is noted as #6 Recyclable. What? I thought a 6 was on the list to avoid.

SInce mid-2007 our purchase orders have carried this disclaimer: "In accepting this order, you are certifying that products contain no lead-based materials; that products will pass current federal tests for flammability; and that products contain no chemicals, exposure to which has been dertermined to be hazardous to humans." It is unfortunate that we cannot call a vendor of sport bottles and ask: "Are these BPA-free?" and expect from most any more than an answer, "Uh... what?" Eventually we can get a definitive answer, but this should be an up front "Yes/No" from anyone in customer service.

I am not one who is convinced that BPA at the levels to which we humans are exposed (without being force-fed gallons of heated liquid in a laboratory) is dangerous. Most of the negatives I find deal with heated liquids in water bottles, and most people I know carry ice water in their bottles. (For coffee tumblers and travel mugs, we suggest stainless liners.) Nonetheless, someone is going to HAVE to get the governments or the United States and Canada, the plastics industry and the advertising specialties industry squared away soon. Very soon. And this, as we enter our huge plastic water bottle sales season.

Permit me to assure you that for the time being, if you DON'T WANT BPA, then you WON'T GET BPA.

-Later, you-

How to buy flash drives that will not fail!

How to explain to a someone who found flash drives on the internet for next to nothing, that's what they're worth!

Flash Drives (thumb drives, USB drives, etc.) can be confusing! Why? Because there is a lot of misinformation about flash drive prices and the cost of memory. Many customers believe they can buy flash drives at below what they believe is "market" or at unusually low prices. These prices are generally found online and are often quoted direct from the Chinese manufacturer or through their North American or European agent. Right there you MAY have a refund problem if the drives don't work as advertised. More on that later.

You shouldn't be concerned about flash drives purchased in an office supply store. They will be charging a one-at-a-time price, unless it is offered as a "loss-leader." However, always ask about a guarantee -- it should be one year at minimum -- and keep your receipt! At their prices, they can afford to hand you a new one without too much trouble. If you really want to see what a blank look is, ask them if it's a "Tier One" chip. If they say "yes", then ask them what "grade" it is. You'll find out what I'm talking about in a moment.

The reality is quality memory costs are the same for every manufacturer as demand for flash chips far outstrips the supply. Our preferred supplier pays the same for 1000 1 GB pieces of memory as they do for 10,000! Furthermore, very few manufacturers or suppliers even offer anything less than 1 GB chips; the standard capacity offering is rising almost monthly and will probably be 8 GB by 2009. So how do you work your way through these numbers? There are some important things you should know.

USB Flash Chips, the stuff inside the drives, are divided up into 4 different classes/standards; A, B & C grades. And the sneaky, Grade D. This chip is the piece cut from a much larger wafer, which is the actual memory.

Grade A:
Tier 1. These are bona fide premium chips with the flash chip manufacturers name & serial number imprinted on the chip itself. These chips are produced by manufacturers such as SAMSUNG and HYNIX. They are the most expensive, but also the most reliable offering a lifetime warranty.

Grade B:
Tier 1 OEM flash chips. These are made by the same legitimate chip manufacturers as Grade A but are without the manufacturer's brand name imprinted on them. These chips are as reliable but may not be of the same standards that the manufacturer would consider putting their name on it. BOTH A and B are fine to use.

Say this over and over to yourself: "I will only buy flash drives manufactured with Tier One chips."

Below these two grades, the quality issues and problems begin. Grade C and Grade D chips will be some of the least expensive flash drives but also have a very high failure rate.

Grade C:
These are called recycled or reclaimed flash chips; it has nothing to do with the recycled plastic housings. These chips are considered waste from the "wafer" that the original manufacturer does not want and considers to be garbage. These have a 30% - 40% failure rate. These chips are actually sold by the pound.

Grade D: (The Sneaky Grade)
The Sneaky flash drive supplier will actually imprint an original manufacturer's name on the Grade C chip. It may read Samsung or Hynix, etc. but is most definitely junk/knock-off. Until these land at your door, you will not know that they don't work! This is a federal patent and copyright violation. Furthermore, we noted before that it is harder and harder to find 256 MB or 512 MB flash drives anymore. Some of the Grade D chips labeled "1 GB" will fail to, let's say, 600 MB. If you were to buy a "512 MB" thumb drive and discover 600 MB of storage, you would probably think you were getting a REAL bargain, right up to the time that the chip fails altogether.

So now that you know about the four grades of chips, here's something else you might not know. All off-shore purchases are pre-paid to a Chinese bank before shipment. That's howcum MANY of the flash drive suppliers want full payment up front with your order. That is not really a problem, but considering someone has your money already, what is your recourse if the product fails? Reputable suppliers, such as those we deal with, gives you layers of protection by US commerce laws and the added insurance provided by Visa or Mastercard.

No matter who you buy your flash drives from, remember that everyone deserves a fair profit [this is BUSINESS, remember] but if a deal seems too good to be true, it... I hate to say this... probably is.

-Later, you-