Are nalgenes safe to drink out of?

B

benchmadebob

Joined
May 12, 2008
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I just bought one i have had some before but i destryoed after i heard they can give you cancer. So are the new ones safe.
 
doesn't make too much sense to me...they make great waterproof storage if you don't like to drink out of them...

and if you didn't know why buy another one?

BUT anyways...check the number on the bottom. if its the same as the old ones, then it has the same problem. if its different its probably the BPA free version. i would suggest hitting up wikipedia for more info.
 
Just because they say it possibly causes cancer, doesn't mean you need to go dig a 20' ditch and bury the dang thing. Those bottles have been around for years and I've personally never heard a single case of somebody actually getting cancer from one of those things. The BPA particles that actually get into your body are so small that it will take a very very long time for any effect.
 
by saying they can cause cancer, cancer research companies probably mean that if you fill it up, put it in the micro-wave until it is on the brink of melting, and then go drink it while you get an x-ray and do that non-stop for 1 year, you may then run a slightly higher risk for cancer.
 
the whole Nalgene hysteria was brought about by a bunch of lefty liberal enviro nazi wackjobs, who heard from somewhere that plastics are bad for you. There was no real insight or research, just blatant left wing nutjob hysteria and propoganda byt he granola munching enviro nazis.

If you put cold water into the Nalgenes and drink from them YOU ARE FINE, You would have to drink billions of liters of water form that bottle for any bloody noticeable trace amounts in your body.

if you use your Nalgens and other bottles for HOT LIQUIDS, there is however a risk of leach age. But again, it would take YEARS and years of massive consumption of from that bottle to even notice any trace of the "chemical" in the plastic.

just use your Nalgene and enjoy it. Ignore the soy suckers and their bleatings.
 
NALGENES ARE SAFE!!!! holy crap the levels that are in the plastic used are so minimal they had to rinse the inside of a bottle with acid, ACID to get the readings they needed!!! Everybody freaked out because Oprah said thery're bad.
My wife is a nurse, she works with doctors, they work with scientits, all very smart people, alot smarter than me anyway, and they all say that they are pefectly safe to drink from. Unless of course you wash yours with acid
 
Nalgene is a company name .What they used to make was polycarbonate bottles. The hysteria was caused by "research" done by a student.That research never went through the proper scientific peer review. So the company stopped making polycarbonate and found a substitute .I'm sure some whacko will find something wrong with that too !
 
Also, from wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalgene



Possible Health Risks & Company Efforts to Resolve

In recent years, studies [2] [3] have suggested that polycarbonate plastics such as the ones Nalgene used may leach endocrine disruptors. Nalgene denies that the quantity leached from their products posed a significant threat to health. [4] Among the secreted chemicals, Bisphenol A (BPA) is an area of concern as it binds to estrogen receptors, thus altering gene expression.[5] Other research has found that fixatives in polycarbonate plastics can cause chromosomal error in cell division called aneuploidy. Nalgene claims these chemicals are only potentially released from Nalgene products when used at temperatures outside of the designed range.

In November 2007, Mountain Equipment Co-op removed all hard, clear polycarbonate plastic water bottles (including Nalgene-branded product) from their shelves and no longer offers these items for sale. In December 2007, Lululemon made a similar move. In May 2008, REI removed Nalgene-branded polycarbonate water bottles and replaced them with BP-A free Nalgene bottles.

An alternative is available in the polyethylene versions of these products (made out of HDPE, Nalgene's traditional material), which are free of these chemicals. They can be identified by their greater flexibility, by their translucent, "milky" appearance, and by the number 2 triangular plastic recycling symbol on the bottom, rather than the number 7 on a polycarbonate bottle.

On April 18, 2008, Health Canada announced that Bisphenol A is "'toxic' to human health".[6] Canada is the first nation to make this designation.[7] On the same date Nalgene announced it would phase out production of its Outdoor line of polycarbonate containers containing the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA). Nalgene’s current product mix, includes the recently launched Everyday line and the original polycarbonate bottles made from materials that do not contain BPA.




References
1 ^ "Historical Milestones". About Nalge Nunc International. Nalge Nunc International. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
2 ^ "Endocrine Disruptor Group Bisphenol A Studies". Retrieved on 2007-02-20.
3 ^ Patricia A. Hunt et al. (2003). "Bisphenol A Exposure Causes Meiotic Aneuploidy in the Female Mouse". Current Biology 13 (7): 546–553. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00189-1. , doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00189-1
4 ^ "Phthalates as Endocrine Disrupters".
5 ^ "Our Stolen Future: Scientists call for New Risk Assessment of Bisphenol-A and Reveal Industry Biases in Research".
6 ^ "Questions and Answers for Action on Bisphenol A Under the Chemicals Management Plan".
7 ^ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080415.wtoxic15/BNStory/National/home
Click to expand...
 
now i am confused and i just bought one with the cursed #3.

havnt drank out of it yet.

i did put my nose in it and smelled it.i does have that cancer smell ya know.
 
I've made coffee and tea in a couple of my nalgenes many times. No cancer yet. I really do think that the issue was blown way out of proportion and I doubt that there is any significant risk in using the bottles for their intended purpose. I have stopped preparing and drinking hot beverages in mine, but that's mostly because I got tired of the coffee smell lingering in the bottle when I went to use it for drinking water.
 
I've been drinking out them for years and have not experienced any significant increase in breast size.
 
i have a nalgene given to me as a gift (i never wanted to buy one with free water bottles laying around everywhere) that i used for a while before it started smelling funky...so i washed it out with baking soda and hot water. problem solved.

every once in a while though the funk comes back...not a huge deal, just rewash. it does get a little annoying though. my stainless bottle doesn't do this, just yummy water smell. i intend to get a few more stainless bottles.

the cancer thing...everything gives you cancer if you have too much of it. like was said i wouldn't worry too much about it. people are always telling me how terrible it is to reuse plastic water bottles because they break down...i'm still here. granted i have only been reusing water bottles for about 16 years, but i think i would have noticed something by now.
 
With all due respect fellows, I want to put a little different perspective into this.

First, I take a little bit of salt with any "pablum" the manufacture of a questioned product dishes out.

Second, Wikipedia can be a enlightening source, but it's information can be somewhat dubious in-and-of itself due to where it comes from and how it is confirmed. I don't take it, alone, as a totally reliable source. I usually read it first, and then try to find the same information additionally from another neutral source. Anyone can put anything on the web. (Evidenced here by this post, I'm sure!! :D )

Third, and correct me if I am wrong, the main concern and issues with BPA aren't necessarily cancer. The issues I've read with BPA's were more hormone/endocrine system related causing issues like low sperm count, hyperactivity, early puberty, obesity, small testes size, enlarged prostates, chromosomal abnormalities in children, etc.

So, I think if you were trying to have a child, have a pregnant wife, or have small children who are still developing - you would not want even the slightest risk of it effecting them. At least I wouldn't. Am I concerned with drinking from one of the bottles myself? No, I've had all the children I'm going to have and my wife and I cannot get pregnant again. I don't fall into one of those categories, except...

We have very small children. I removed those plastics from my home for them (packed them away). To me it was a small price to pay just to be on the safe side. I'm the parent, it is my responsibility; my decision. It is nothing against Nalgene at all - I'll continue to buy their non-BPA items. Once my kids are gone, I'll probably get the old BPA suspect bottles back out.
 
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Nalgene has pulled its old bottles from the shelf here at the REI in Austin and replaced them with all BPA free bottles. So no worries here. I seem to be one of the lucky ones that got a Guyot, before the became unavailable, so thats what im using now. Mostly because it cuts down on equipment, I can boil in it and not have to carry a pot now.
 
I honestly think you should be more concerned with what is being put in or on our food :D IMO it is a much bigger risk that the low risk this seems to be.

Even so, I will probably get a Guyot when they become available. In the meantime, I did order a couple Kleen Canteens. I like the idea of stainless for other reasons.

Brian
 
Learning to read reports, even scare reports, gives you some insight into what these people really AREN'T saying.

No one has found toxic levels of anything leached from Nalgene polycarbonate bottles. What they did was note the presence of some chemicals in the manufacturing process. How much of that could ever leach out and how much of these chemicals it would take to harm a living creature has not been esablished.

There are chemicals in blacktop that cause X. These do leach out: you can smell the tar on a hot day. DON'T eat the roadbed.

Businesses rely on marketing to make money from their manufacturing. When adverse advertising affects their sales, they cave. It's cheaper than being right and going out of business. So the slime who damage another person's business to score media points win again.
 
This has been discussed -- in depth -- several times.

About ten years ago, researchers (not students) at Case Western Reserve University noted elevated levels of birth defects (not cancer) in lab mice being kept in polycarb (Type 7, not 3) cages. It was determined that using of harsh chemicals (such as dish washing machine detergents - that will take gold off dishes) and very hot water (not boiling, but very hot - think using the heat booster on a dish washer) caused BPA to leach out of the cage material. These findings were published by a CWRU faculty member in a peer-reviewed professional journal.

These findings have been confirmed in many published peer-reviewed university studies all over the world.

These results have been contradicted by every INDUSTRY-FINANCED study. Nevertheless, Nalgene has acted to withdraw it's polycarb (again 7, not 3) products from the market, starting with baby bottles. Chinese industry continues to crank out their, unlicensed, version of Lexan Polycarb bottles, dishes, etc. (Comforting, that. No?)

BPA is mutigenic, not cancer-causing.

I will not - again - give the links that establish the above.

It seems to be that if you MUST use that partucular type of plastic, when others are available that do not leach BPA, you might wish to consider washing by hand, especially if you are planning on siring/bearing children.

(And I think aluminum and PETE are both just fine, thank you. But I know there are folks who believe that only glass is "safe.")
 
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