I drink a ton of water when I run and play soccer and I recently read from a few sources that the polycarbonate plastics used in those nice hard plastic bottles (nalgene, etc) are harmful because the plastic may leech into the water…
A) do you think this is true?
B) are there good alternatives out there? I have a metal water bottle from a swiss company called Sigg but it is hard to clean.
I am not too paranoid but if hard plastics are harmful in this way we have quite a problem on our hands considering practically everything is stored in this stuff.
The evidence I have read so far doesn’t say what danger there is, if any, to grown adults who aren’t pregnant. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just rinse your bottle out with warm soapy water and you should be good to go. More of a chance of injury from the soccer than from the Nalgene.
I once operated an injection molding machine, though I did get some experience in blow molding as well. Your plastic water bottles are blow molded, for example; the plug end of a lamp cord is injection molded. The place I worked in blow molding did water bottles, soap bottles, liquor bottles, and the like.
Generally, none of the plastics we commonly used to mold objects had any kind of health warning on the sacks of raw plastic. The only thing they referred to was that some operators might prefer to wear a facemask when handling the raw plastic during the filling of the molder’s hopper–it was pelletized and sometimes (but rarely) dusty. Other than that, the stuff seemed safe to handle, to mold, and to use for its intended purpose: water bottles, soap bottles, and liquor bottles. In fact, the liquor should have eaten into the plastic better than anything edible. But the plastic was safe against the liquor.
Based on my experience handling the raw plastics and the lack of health warnings on the sacks of raw plastic, I’d say you’re safe with a plastic water bottle. Water likely won’t leach anything from the plastic; and if by some longshot chance it does, there is really nothing in the plastic to harm you.
It’s false and has been debunked on this board many times. The people who conducted the “science” are the people who sell. . .wait for it. . .bottled water.
There is some controversy regarding the safety of clear plastic baby bottles. I can’t remember right now where I saw it, but it seems like the bottles with “5” and “7” recycling designations tend to throw PVCs or dioxin or something - and some baby bottles are labelled that way. Or was it “3” and “6” that spelled danger? I thought nalgene was a “good” plastic, but I could easily be wrong.
I DO recall that the main way to avoid problems is to hand-wash the bottles, rather than sending them through the dishwasher. The leaching happens at high temperatures. Toss them out if they become scratched.
I should add that it’s not the original bottle of water that is supposed to poison you, it’s re-using the plastic bottle that’s supposed to kill you. Sound fishy? Yeah, me too.
Plastic bottles and canteens don’t taste the best. Ice cold water out of a square aluminum Boy Scout canteen - now we’re talkin!~ I remember the early Nalgene round bottles (before they started marketing them commercially) were polyethylene or whatnot, rather than Lexan, and tended to absorb certain odors/colors semi-permanently. Notably Iodine.
I should think if you stink with Lexan you’ll be OK, it’s practically inert as glass.
I assume Chefguy was referring to the practice of reusing the PETE (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles in which Evian and Dasani and their ilk come.
Personally, I use a Nalgene bottle and have noticed no ill effects. The danger I’d heard associated with them is that some people don’t rinse their bottles out often or thoroughly enough and the things become cesspools of bacteria. Believable enough. I say: Rinse your bottle out often and your good to go.
…which is not the plastic that the OP is talking about. So I would suggest that one take Chefguy’s uncited claim that the OP’s concern is “false and has been debunked on this board many times. The people who conducted the “science” are the people who sell. . .wait for it. . .bottled water.” with a large grain of salt.