I was never the type to carry a Nalgene,®[1] so when the BPA[2] story broke, I wasn’t all that alarmed, and I didn’t feel the need to rush out and buy a Kleen Kanteen® as it seems everyone else on the planet did.[3]
And then it occurred to me one day while I was Tupperwaring®[4] up some leftovers that, judging by its clear, hard, durable[5] plasticky-ness , my favorite food storage container was probably made of the same stuff as those formerly ubiquitous Nalgenes®. How else but with toxic chemicals could it remain so scratch-, crack-, and miraculously stain-free, even after years of use and tomato sauce and turmeric onslaughts?
I put the thought out of my head for months. It became one of those things I was always meaning to look up online, but could never remember when I was anywhere near a computer.[6]
Fast forward to last night, when I was lovingly rinsing out one of my two Rubbermaid® StainShieldTM containers, which I had used to transport my lunch to work, and which I planned to use for tomorrow’s lunch as well. For whatever reason, the time had finally come to find out for sure what I knew in my heart all along: that I was being slowly poisoned by my most treasured off-brand Tupperware. ®[7]
It didn’t take a whole lot of muckraking. Rubbermaid® Inc. readily admits on their website that many of their food storage products contain BPA. You know, so their customers can make ‘informed decisions’ about a chemical that Rubbermaid still claims ‘has been used safely in the manufacture of thousands of products for years.’[8] If their customers ever get around to looking it up, that is.
The ‘manufacture’ of said products may technically be safe, but what about the consumer use of these products? Exposure to BPA, which, according a study by the CDC, is now present in over 93 percent of Americans’ urine, has been linked to breast and prostate cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and developmental changes in children.[9] The FDA ruled last year that BPA was safe, based on two studies funded by plastic manufacturers. It recently announced, however, that it is reviewing the latest BPA studies and will determine by Nov. 30th of this year[10] whether BPA is safe for use in food packaging.[11]
I’m not waiting on the FDA to quit using my StainShield containers though. I’ll be using more reused glass jars[12] for storing leftovers in the fridge, and I’ll use our other, BPA-free Rubbermaid® Servin’ Saver containers[13] when I’m biking somewhere. I may eventually buy a nice ‘eco-friendly’ stainless steel container, but not unless I really need it.
[1] Eight glasses of water a day always seemed a little excessive to me, so I admit I felt a little vindicated when it turned out that not only was the necessity of drinking that much water a
myth, but that everyone who kept swinging their Nalgenes from their carabiners emphatically, urging me to ‘hydrate,’ was in fact slowly ingesting their favorite accessory.
[2] Aka Bisphenol A, of endocrine disruption fame.
[3] I find it concerning that the widespread switch to eco-friendly (-looking, in some cases) alternatives often involves massive-scale exploitation of even more resources. Aluminum and stainless steel are way more resource-intensive to produce than plastic. Thanks to the BPA scare, (and after a mention on Oprah by Julia Roberts,) Sigg increased their production of aluminum water bottles by 90 percent last year alone. When will we realize that rampant consumerism is not compatible with sustainability?
[4] Or, more precisely, Rubbermaiding® though that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…
[5] I’ve had my two StainShield containers since at least 2005, and I’ve dropped them onto hard surfaces I don’t know how many times.
[6] Other things in this category include: shorthand, how to fix squeaky bicycle brakes, and two-letter Scrabble words.
[7] Microwaving food in a polycarbonate container being one of the more effective ways of getting high amounts of BPA into your system. (BPA leaches out of plastic at much higher rates when it is heated.)
[8] And continues to be used without qualms, apparently. Although the StainShield line has been replaced by the Premier line, it too contains BPA.
[9] Including early puberty in females.
[10] BPA has been suspected of being hazardous to humans since the 1930’s…
[11] Most cans are lined with BPA (Eden Organics beans [though not their tomatoes] are some of the rare exceptions). Due to the high processing temperatures of canned foods, they can contain high levels of BPA.
[12] The metal lids of which are often lined with BPA, but since food doesn’t come into much contact with the small surface area of the lid, and since I won’t be heating up the jars, I don’t think that’s a huge cause for concern.
[13] Abandoned by an old roommate who had her sights on eco-chic stainless steel when she moved out.
