Canadian retail chain pulls plastic water bottles

I agree with pre-emptive strikes. I don't buy into the Global Warming Hype- but I do try to live as clean a life as possibly without becoming too weird. I try not to nuke too much plastics (pseudoestrogen release), I recycle what I can, drive as little as is feasable. If research comes back conclusively saying it is OK- then there is nothing stopping a company from selling it again. But who wants to take a chance- remember Thalidimide?
 
Most people here won't. Thalidomide was not approved in the United States when the birth defect scandal hit.
Canadians should remember though.
 
If the only place we were picking up stray chemistry was in our Nalgene bottles there probably would not be much concern. The cumulative effects of all we take in is the real unknown. It comes in our food, gets absorbed through our skin, we breath it, etc. My take is it is prudent to limit the intake as much as possible since we don't know the ultimate effects.

Same with the global warming mentioned above. I hear a lot of people stating conclusively that it is or is not caused by man. Bottom line is WE DO NOT REALLY KNOW. So the question is how much of a chance should we take with the only world we have.
 
Much of cancer is caused by the very large amount of chemicals we absorb from the environment which overloads our immune systems. I could give you a 10 hour dissertation if you want ! The bisphenal A in polycarbonate is still hysteria. I wonder how much that company sells that is from China , untested , loaded with lead and many other toxins.But I could show you , in your own home the huge amount of chemicals that you add ,unnecessarily.
 
So if Nalgenes are no good anymore - what's the alternative?

I've seen bottles by a company called Laken in my local camping store.

I think they're made of aluminium. Anyone know anything about them?

Crap, I drink out of my Nalgene's every day - so does my daughter. :(
 
Buffalohump said:
So if Nalgenes are no good anymore - what's the alternative?

I've seen bottles by a company called Laken in my local camping store.

I think they're made of aluminium. Anyone know anything about them?

Crap, I drink out of my Nalgene's every day - so does my daughter. :(
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Here's one alternative. Can also be used to boil (sanitize) water in a survival situation.

Doc
 
Mete- I don't know the actual numbers but I would doubt that MEC has many untested dangerous products- they are very concerned with environmental well being. But I do agree with the unnecessary amount of man made chemicals in our midst (remember that everything is a chemical of some sort so we must be careful about throwing the term around).
 
Unnecessary types and unnecessary amounts .One example .You get up in the morning and go to the head [bathroom] I'll bet you use scented soap, scented shampoo, scented toothpaste, scented shaving cream, and even scented TP !!! All unnecessary and all must be dealt with by your immune system !
 
MEC is a cooperative and does have environmental sustainability and fair trade policies. While undoubtably MEC does sell products that contain toxic chemicals or uses them unknowingly during their lifecycle, by and large, the company does try to support practices that are consistent with their policies even when that means price raises on certain consumer goods. For example, all of their cotton t-shirts are made from organic cotton and they prioritize the use of recycled plastics in their fleece products. MEC is clearly reacting to something which was brought up to their board through multiple comments. Kudos to them for sticking to their ethical principals and trying to educate their consumer base beyond 'buy more of our stuff'.

Yes mete, we are exposed to a plethora of chemicals some more inherently toxic than others. Exposures to mixtures are difficult to fully quantify, but at least as a society we are getting better at reducing persistent and bioaccumulative (P/B) compounds (scotchguard, teflon and BFR's excepted). The good news with the less P/B toxic chemicals is that they can be cleared from the body when exposed to a clean environment. This is perhaps a bit more debatable in the case of carcinogens - but I have a rather dubious opinion of cancer slopes risk approaches. I think from what you are saying above, and I would agree with such an opinion, that taking some steps at implementing clean/green behaviors does have advantages and can be a risk reduction strategy.

p.s. I also agree that lots of butter, marbled steak and high fat sour cream are high risk, so are automobile accidents and getting married more than 2 times. Believe it or not, I try to moderate those activities too!
 
Buffalohump said:
So if Nalgenes are no good anymore - what's the alternative?

(
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Nalgene is a company, not a bottle. The problem is not with the company but rahter with one of the plastics they use (polycarbonate) in SOME of their products. Presumably the polyethylene bottles they make are safe to use.

Unfortunatly I have been drinking out a polycarbonate (AKA Lexan) bottle every day for years now. I guess I should stop.

All the millk I buy and drink comes in plastic bottles (polyethylene), and I make frozen concentrate juice into a platic bottle (polypropylene) - I hope those are safe.

Will
 
Will - what ever was in your bottle to begin with has probably mostly been leached out by now if it is the same bottle. You might as well continue to use it!
 
If someone is really worried about their Nalgene, a few quarts of boiling water through it ought to get a majority of anything that is ever likely to come out it.
 
I use a stainless steel Kleen Kanteen. Stainless steel is supposed to be one of the safest materials as far as leaching. http://www.kleankanteen.com/

It does dent when you drop it (mine has been around) and chills the water faster in cold weather. In the winter I normally carry it in an insulated pocket.

Aluminum is not considered as safe.
 
Well, I found an old 1,5 litre olive oil bottle, washed that out, and now its our new fridge water bottle. I'll keep the Nalgenes for camping/hiking. I reckon glass is GTG until I can afford to get some stainless steel bottles, like the ones Doc suggested (thanks Doc :thumbup:)

Mark
 
If Mountain Equipment Walmart was SO concerned about harmful substances, they should stop selling lead soldered flasks and other lead based products from China (where they get the majority of their stuff from)

:thumbdn:
 
I think it was just a publicity stunt by MEC right before Christmas to increase sales. They got $millions$ of free advertising on the 6PM news last week. Their timing was way more than a coincidence.

BB
 
Bushman5 said:
If Mountain Equipment Walmart was SO concerned about harmful substances, they should stop selling lead soldered flasks and other lead based products from China (where they get the majority of their stuff from)

:thumbdn:
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This is a good point. If MEC was soooo concerned with "protecting people", then they should ban all products from China (ie human rights abuse) and certainly NOT sell any climbing gear what-so-ever...I mean, what if somebody falls and gets killed?

Geezuss,..what a stupid thing for MEC to do, I bet it was some pot smoking hippy from Vancouver that came up with the idea (likely the same person doesn't shave or brush their teeth either for fear of flouride)...

....as you can tell - I'm going to keep on using my nalgene bottles

D
 
LikeHike said:
I use a stainless steel Kleen Kanteen. Stainless steel is supposed to be one of the safest materials as far as leaching. http://www.kleankanteen.com/

It does dent when you drop it (mine has been around) and chills the water faster in cold weather. In the winter I normally carry it in an insulated pocket.

Aluminum is not considered as safe.
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+1 for the Kleen Kanteen:thumbup:

I know there is a lot of debate about the Nalgene bottle, but why not be safe and just use Stainless? It's more useful anyway if you need to boil water in an emergency situation. And with stainless- there aren't negative reports like there are for aluminum.
 
What about bladders for drinking water (camelback, etc.)? Are they better or worse?
 
The older "milk jug" Nalgene containers and the PETE (Type 1) containers are not implicated in the university studies that started this dustup. They hold that harsh detergents and very hot water are the main agents that leach out the BPA.

I don't know of anything I'd call a bladder made of Lexan. It's rigid.

I bought my Nalgene's (1 qt wide mouth) from a lab supply company years ago - pre-Lexan - and never saw a reason to replace them. They have stood up for 24 years. Lexan is purdy, but so what?
 
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