[Chumley]

What are those plastic army issue canteens made of?

[Blue_Nose]

Winnipegger Winnipegger:

Those who are sharp will notice what bisphenol-A reacts with: phosgene. That's a poison gas used in World War 1. If there's any of that in the plastic it would be toxic. In fact breathing it is poisonous, so it couldn't be used for hockey helmet visors either. But it doesn't off-gas because the manufacturing process ensures all the phosgene gas is reacted to form plastic. There isn't anything to leach out.

Coming up with chemical equations is pretty irrelevant to the simple fact that the bottles have been found to leach bisphenol-A. The only question is how much, and how damaging it can be.

[Winnipegger]

Blue_Nose Blue_Nose:

Coming up with chemical equations is pretty irrelevant to the simple fact that the bottles have been found to leach bisphenol-A. The only question is how much, and how damaging it can be.

The chemical equations tell you two things. First, if you're looking for an alternative that doesn't leach chemicals, the equations tell you what could potentially be leached so you can select one that isn't made from anything harmful. Notice acrylic is made from non-toxic stuff. Second, if bisphenol-A is really being leached then other chemicals should be leached as well. If those others aren't there then that raises the question of whether bisphenol-A is. That's the point, water will not break down polycarbonate and it's unlikely that any unreacted bisphenol-A is still in the plastic. Bottom line: the claim isn't true.

If you're still worried, make sure you wash any new water bottle with dish detergent. Rince afterward so the water doesn't taste of dish detergent. I'm sure you know how to wash dishes. Once any surface contaminants are gone, it's highly unlikely that plain water will leach anything out of the plastic.

[FireWire]

Save water bottles drink beer cans

[kal]

As far as normal water bottles go (not nalgene type), the problem with them is that they collect bacteria really, really easy (as was stated on the first page). In order to effectively kill that bacteria they have to be washed at a very high temperature. Because these bottles were not designed to be washed at high temperature (or at all), heating the bottle to that temperature causes chemicals to leech out of the plastic.

[Winnipegger]

How do you expect these bottles will collect bacteria more easily than a glass or plate from your kitchen?

[PluggyRug]

Winnipegger Winnipegger:

How do you expect these bottles will collect bacteria more easily than a glass or plate from your kitchen?

Also, what's wrong with a little bacteria.

It's the squeaky clean world we are attempting to create that is causing underdeveloped immune systems in our children.

[kal]

Winnipegger Winnipegger:

How do you expect these bottles will collect bacteria more easily than a glass or plate from your kitchen?

Plastic scatches far more easily and far deeper than glass. You can also get at the inside of glasses to scrub them.