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.