Rowan

And what bad effects have you suffered from drinking all that BPA?

erig007

Only time will tell knowing that 44%/38% of men/women will develop cancer in their lifetime. Anyway, what effects it has on me is irrelevant the same way as not all people who smoke develop health problems. It's a global approach not an individual one.

RoadTire 

Lead Crystal? Just kidding...

cyccommute 

Ceramic can contain lead, mercury, cadimum, uranium and other heavy metals. Stainless contains chromium and nickel which can both be leached out under certain conditions. Glass can contain cerium, lead, chromium, uranium and other heavy metals. Can you get all of that into your water? The risk isn't zero but then the risk of getting certain chemicals from plastic isn't that high either.

And then there is the water. As W.C. Fields famously observed "Don't drink the water, boy. Fish fornicate in it."

erig007

If you go this way even us humans have heavy metals in our body. When you shake hands you can be contaminated.

There is probably the same risks of wrong doing by the manufacturer of ceramic or glass that there is for plastics but the risk isn't the same regarding leakages of materials themselves for most plastics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24001816
Furthermore, foods in glass jar and metal cans such as green peas, garniture, corn, tomato paste, pepper paste, pickles, mushroom and bean samples were also used. BPA concentrations were 21.86±0.80-1858.71±8.24μg kg(-1) for canned foodstuffs, 36.48±0.95-554.69±3.18μgkg(-1) for foods in paper box, "not detected" -399.21±3.26μgkg(-1) for foods in glass jar.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222987/
When both more polar and less polar solvents are used, most newly purchased and unstressed plastic products release chemicals having reliably detectable EA independent of the type of resin used in their manufacture, type of product, processing method, retail source, and whether the product had contents before testing.

We found that exposure to one or more common-use stresses often increases the leaching of chemicals having EA. In fact, our data suggest that almost all commercially available plastic items would leach detectable amounts of chemicals having EA once such items are exposed to boiling water, sunlight (UV), and/or microwaving.

Maybe in the future, studies will find high risks for ceramics, stainless and glass but in the mean time, it seems to be most plastics that get the attention. The same way that you choose to ride and go the safest way even though there is some risks, you need to drink in something. Until proven otherwise, the lesser of 2 evil remain roughly glass, ceramic and stainless at start.

cyccommute 

You only list the risk for leaching of BPA. That's only one possible contaminant. You can't draw any conclusions from the studies in your link about what glass, ceramic and metal containers might leach out. Quite frankly, BPA is a minor concern compared to heavy metals. Unlined "tin" cans with lead soldered joints used from the late 1800 to the mid 1900 were far worse for you than the microgram...that's one millionth of a gram... quantities of BPA exposure. Given that it takes around 840 mg/kg of a rats body weight to kill 50% of the population (the LD50) vs an LD50 of 15mg/kg of lead, I'll take the BPA.

Of course you could avoid all of the problems of modern foods by growing your own food and only drinking water from "natural" sources that never touch any kind of plastics. You might want to worry about pathogens and parasites in your food as well as upstream heavy metal sources, upstream animal usage, upstream industrial activities in your water. You can live off the land without all of the modern materials but you may not live as long. BPA and other chemicals might cause you problems in 40 or 50 years (but they might not). Pathogens, parasites and heavy metals will cause you problems tomorrow.

As for the lesser of two evils, you don't seem to understand the science. If you use polyethylene or polypropylene, which are the most common flexible plastics for bicycle water bottles, you are using something that doesn't put out bisphenol A. They can't. They don't have any BPA in them. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Both of these plastics are water insoluble as well because of their chemical structure.

erig007

If you read me correctly you would have noticed that i never said that BPA was the only contaminant in plastics, since the BPA story manufacturers have replaced it with BPS and other chemicals so complex that it could take years to know the harmfulness of those new chemicals

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-...icals-1.978033
"Environmentalists say it could take years for scientists to understand the risks of these replacement plastics - even as consumers rush to buy these so-called less toxic bottles."

Now for the other part of your post, if you are unhappy with the results of the studies and what some experts and some environmentalists advised to do then go tell them not me. What is in bold doesn't come from me. (cf: previous posts)

"Since it's not possible to know the full risks of these chemicals, environmental groups advise consumers who don't want to wait for studies to be completed, to use glass, ceramics or stainless steel containers instead."

"Health advocates say the system in the U.S. needs to be overhauled. Instead of assuming chemicals are safe until proven otherwise, the process needs to be reversed, Dahl said."

"In fact, our data suggest that almost all commercially available plastic items would leach detectable amounts of chemicals having EA once such items are exposed to boiling water, sunlight (UV), and/or microwaving."

All i know is that as a consumer when i buy my little plastic bottle at the store, my water in it always end up tasting plastic (metal in my stainless steel bottle and nothing that i can notice in my glass bottle)

Those plastics are water insoluble but not UV proof nor impervious to mechanical stress

Mobile 155

None of us are unhappy with the links you posted some however believe they are overstated and very subjective. You simply have chosen you preferred demon and it is plastic. What you taste isn't even the point because you don't have the same sense of taste as some of the rest of us do. I ask again have you had your water at home tested? I have and I no longer drink from the tap. So it isn't that we aren't concerned it is we don't see the solution as going to glass or metal. These environmental web sites live off of alarmism and conjecture and need to be taken with a grain of salt, even if that isn't good for you. Think about why they don't tend to put fruit juice in Steel cans. Even Soda now comes in plastic most of the time. The levels we are exposed to tend to be close to harmless and are monitored by the FDA. But for now you have a better chance of getting sick from eating iceberg lettuce and getting Salmonella, and I tend not to worry about that much either. If you don't trust US made number five plastic water bottles fine. If you don't like the taste from a clear plastic bottle of Aquafina that is fine as well. If you would rather drink water pumped down old rusty steel city pipes into PVC cold water pipes into your house fine as well. None of us is going to advocate for you do buy filtered water and a cooler for your home. But you have to forgive us if we don't see steel or glass as a solution to getting hydration while riding a bicycle.

As a side note I took a walk this morning and the sky wasn't falling, there were no UFOs and Big Foot didn't eat from my garden. But a good port ion of my food supply has been genetically altered and I am still alive.

erig007

You're mixing all thing together i'm aware of bias that people can have especially environmentalists but you notice that most links refer to scientific studies not just from environmentalists. You can do the exercise by yourself got to pubmed and type plastic bottles and see what you get. Whatever your believes or mine are facts remain that my filtered water (less than 1ppm) in my plastic bottles taste bad but not in my glass bottles. The only reason i can think of is that something leaks from the plastic bottles to the water. What i see as well is that all plastic bottles i have tried are not equal and don't leak the same way. I went for stainless and glass because i was fed up of this horrible taste. (in my stainless bottles it still tastes bad but at least i have changed flavor . My favorite remain glass hands down)
I let you put your dom perignon into a plastic bottle while i keep riding with my wine bottle (full of water) made of glass.

PlanoFuji

There is at least one other reason; psychosomatic.

People are also able to detect differences in water in terms of other content, such as oxygenation and minerals (which your filtering may not be removing and may even be adding)... And then if you are basing it upon new (unwashed) plastic bottles they seem to frequently have chemicals left over from their manufacturing/washing that can leave an after taste. Which is why it is always a good idea to wash any new container with a bleach solution and then multiple rinses.

Mobile 155

Have you seen a doctor about your taste buds? I posted some of the things I found declaring Plastic #5 bottles safe. I posted what the American cancer had to say on the subject. I posted the urban Legend research on some of this as well a Snoops. I see your sites and raise you my sites and say you are over reacting. Much like when coffee was good for us, then bad for us, then good for us and then decaf was better then it was as bad, before wine was bad and now red wine is good and we should all have some dark chocolate everyday. Some people just worry about everything. What does your milk come in? wait, milk isn't good for everyone either is it?

erig007

Well it's possible but then my psychosomatic problem varies depending on the plastic bottle used

-i always wash my new bottles and because i hate the plastic taste i tend to clean more than necessary with biodegradable soap, white vinegar and sodium bicarbonate let it soak a few days with just water then start again
- i always fill the plastic bottle just before i ride to avoid any leakage
-some plastic bottles taste more than others. But hot summer days and plastic bottles seems not to work well together
-66ppm water goes through a 6 stages filtration system, UV light, carbon, reverse osmosis NSF listed included. The result is less than 1ppm for the water via a ppm meter. Most minerals are just removed as i prefer to get minerals from my food anyway. When i boil that water i don't see any residue in the pan

cehowardGS

I am 73, I use any dam water bottle that is the color I like.. I ain't got long anyway..

And I love those cheap ones from China and Taiwan.. even Korea too..

I tried a stainless, didn't like that too much. Taste really bad. On my plastic bottles, first use, I let them soak over night with some backing soda and water..

crystonwaston33

Am using Stainless steel bottle, because Stainless steel is made out of natural elements .And they can be easily recycled, I just refuse to use plastic bottle or glass because harmful chemicals are emitted from these bottles, and these chemicals might cause cancer.