Don’t worry, I’m not going to say that BPA (bisphenol A) is not as bad as we thought—it certainly is. But the good news is that plastic bottles that claim to be BPA-free were actually found to live up to their claims. Concerns that newer “BPA-free”-marketed bottles were not actually free of the harmful endocrine-disrupting chemical prompted this independent study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the UC Center for Environmental Genetics, performed by University of Cincinnati researchers and published in the journal Chemosphere.
The researchers found that stainless steel and/or co-polyester lined aluminum bottles did not release BPA, but aluminum bottles lined with epoxy-based resins did. “[BPA] is used extensively in the production of consumer goods, polycarbonate plastics, in epoxy resins that are used to coat metallic food and beverage cans and in other products. There is a great concern regarding the possible harmful effects from exposures that result from BPA leaching into foods and beverages from packaging or storage containers,” the study stated.
All bottles used in the study were obtained from retail stores and were made from polycarbonate, co-polyester, stainless steel, aluminum with co-polyester lining or aluminum with epoxy resin lining.
Detectible levels of BPA leaked from polycarbonate bottles, though the aluminum bottles lined with epoxy resins leached the most BPA. So if you switched your reusable water bottle to a metal one, be sure it’s not lined with epoxy resin. Aluminum bottles lined with EcoCare™ did not leach BPA. It’s good to know there are safer alternatives out there.