Because everyone needs overpriced heavy-metal water bottles, SIGG prided itself in creating BPA-free, environmentally-friendly water carriers often seen carried by hippie/hipster tree-hugging folk.
People freaked out about the BPA chemical contained in plastic water bottles and created these ugly things. (Turns out the FDA never even recommended discontinuing use of products containing BPA.) Awesome, we’re all ok to keep drinking out of our Nalgene and Gatorade bottles.
But if you bought one of the environmentally friendly (assumed chemical-free) SIGG bottles prior to August 2008, it wasn’t as chemical-free as you might have hoped. The CEO of SIGG posted a letter on the company’s website letting consumers know that if you bought your better bottle more than a year ago, it actually contains the BPA chemical you were probably trying to avoid by purchasing it.
In the future, maybe just reuse a bottle you already have before going out and purchasing one of these $20 (or more) water bottles.
h/t: Gawker
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Pfft, figures. This why whenever I’m thirsty, I only drink straight from a pond or a cow’s teet.
No bottles required.
Ok, I have a Sigg water bottle. I didn’t pay $20 for it, I think I paid $30.
The problem with aluminum water bottles? They dent and are not too hard to pierce. They chip, if they’re painted, they make noise in your bag, there’s no sneaking fluids onto the plane with them.
They are really a poor replacement for a Nalgene in every circumstance, even pouring boiling water into them (Nalgenes can take it).
I have a lot of these weird things in my house. I turn a little handle and water comes gushing out by the ton! I admit it doesn’t cost me $26 a gallon but I’m pretty sure its the same stuff, and I don’t have to lug bottles of it around like I’m some kind of old timey pack mule.
I think aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer’s…
Pearce, aluminum and Teflon both are thought to contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s…but nothing has been scientifically hard proven either way.
Since I work here at home I just use a Brita pitcher and a glass from my cabinet when I want water. But I have been known to buy (gasp!) a bottle of water if I am out and want one. :^)
I still stand by my Siggs. I have had more than one bout of kidney stones and the hard water we have in my area contributes to it. Doc said I need to drink tons more water – but it needs purified. Compare the cost of my Sigg I can reuse + a filter system to buying a case+ a week and the math works in favor of the Sigg/filter. (I think I broke even in 2 months, compared to buying water). Plus, massive waste is saved as there is less manufacturing, bottling, recycling, etc. The Siggs may dent, but I’ve yet to have to pitch one – and the water doesn’t taste like plastic.
…and they look cool.
(which helps in being a good little American consumerist)
“Compare the cost of my Sigg I can reuse + a filter system to buying a case+ a week.”
Or you could spend 3 dollars to buy one case of water, save the plastic bottles, then refill them again and again. Been doing it for years. The plastic eventually degrades to a point you don’t want to use them, but I’d say I go through a case of 30 bottles roughly every 6-8 months. Hell, a 2.50 plastic army surplus canteen holds more liquid than a Sigg, comes with a holder that can be clipped to anything, and short of a nuclear blast is virtually indestructible.
Considering how badly metal heats in the sun, I would also imagine they’re not very refreshing on a long run or bike ride.
Koka, I knew it was something like that. I know Teflon flakes are supposed to be bad, but I couldn’t remember why. Ah well. I guess we’ll have to wait for more study.
I also use a Brita pitcher. My cats use Brita water in their (also filtered) water dish. I use Brita water in my swamp cooler. I use Brita water to make ice cubes.
Not bad considering I bought the original pitcher about ten years ago for $3 at a silent auction. I buy the filters in bulk and go through them fairly quick.
That said, Aquafina tastes SO much better. If it’s on sale, I’ll get a 24 pack.
I too have a Sigg bottle. Bought it this summer. It kept the water very very cold while I played tennis. However as the water level went down the bottle itself started to heat up as it sat on the bench courtside. Unless I remembered to stick it in my bag or under a towel it became to hot to handle. I have gone back to using one of the 1/2 dozen gator-ade bottles we have saved.
We just got a new Brita pitcher, and it came w/a Nalgene bottle. We were going through so much bottled water, we just figured it made sense to go the Brita route. Our local water is technically supposed to be safe to drink right out of the tap, but it smells like the day after a chili cookoff, so feh. (To be fair, this might be the fault of our pipes–it’s an old house–but I tend to believe SW Georgia smells of sulphur b/c it’s a Hellmouth.)
Love my Brita pitcher. We have a well here out in the country and I hate the extra stuff we get in the tap. I buy the filters at the air force base by a case and it is a lot cheaper and saves space to do this rather than buy tons of bottles. I do have a few bottles that I have bought to take with me when I workout.
So it’s either a plastic bottle with the BPA chemical that may or may not be harmful or aluminum that may or may not cause Alzheimer’s.
Well ain’t them choices dandy
Thanks for posting the update on this, as a cancer patient I am very concerned about drink containers and I don’t want to be drinking or eating from a hormone-laden anything. I too have the possibility of kidney and bladder problems due to abdominal radiation treatments and chemo, so I carry water or juices everywhere I go, and need something trustworthy and inert for a refillable container. Drinking fountains are OK, but can often harbor mold, contamination, etc. Aluminum is also problematic concerning the possible Alzheimers speculation as mentioned.
Food-grade stainless steel is the best way to go so far for portable drinking containers, there are some out there. Glass is good also, but too heavy and breakable for some applications obviously.
I don’t put the FDA as the last word on what’s safe anymore, after its past track record in failure on various foods and meds that have turned up to be questionable-to-harmful, or just generally slow on the uptake for new evidence and findings.
Beige – “Smells like the day after a chili cookoff” just made my morning. Our water smells like… well, I don’t know how else to describe it but “metallic garlic.” We get a “boil water” advisory once every couple of years. It’s disgusting. We have the Brita pitcher, and we have plastic jugs with a freezable thing inside. The sticker on them said BPA-free, but they were only $3 not $20, so they probably contain lye, dioxin and heavy metals for all I know.
Jannah – my prayers go out to you during your treatment time. My cousin is back in the ICU after doses of chemo that got rid of her leukemia damaged her heart and kidneys. Her heart is operating at 10% and may need a transplant. NEver knew that chemo was so damaging to your body.
For all the talk that the stuff coming out of my tap is the same stuff Disani and these other places are bottling… well, I don’t know what magic tap they have, but it sure as heck tastes different to me. And I’m just so shocked that something within the green movement is hypocritical.
I agree, Scott. We save all of our individual bottles and get the large five gallon bottles and a dispenser to refill them. Cheaper and safer and tastier.
“And I’m just so shocked that something within the green movement is hypocritical.”
Really? I’m not.
But, Freak Show, they’ve had such a great example in Al Gore who has never and never would do anything remotely hypocritical. *cough* Okay, maybe that was taking a joke a little far…
I don’t like the way my Sigg bottle smells! It is a 2007 so I guess I should toss it. I don’t use it much anyway because it is clumsy.
Generally, unless you have a really crappy (no pun intended) water processing plant, water out of the tap is clean & must measure up to certain state and federal standards. Most bottled water comes right out of the tap at the bottling plant (Pepsi anyone?). They are great marketers and have convinced people that the only “safe” way to drink water is for them to pour it out of their own taps instead of yours. And then, to do you a bigger favor, they will charge you a 10,000% markup, ship it all over the country using tons of gas, causing lots of pollution, then fill the landfills with plastic bottles, all the while saying it is for your “health”. It is only for the health of their bottom line. If the water IS actually purified before they bottle it, scientists consider it “dead” water. You get a lot of minerals, etc. from “real” water. The corporations have just brainwashed so many people into fearing the water in their houses that they will actually pay a fortune for something that is extremely cheap and almost free. Just another version of “snake oil” salesmen making you fear something that isn’t a problem in the first place.
Next they will be telling us we need to buy compressed air to breath in our homes.
My dogs and I also live by our Brita. In fact I also use an old Brita pitcher to filter inexpensive Vodka. I got that idea from America’s Test Kitchen on PBS. It’s not a Grey Goose substitute, but it’s good enough to replace Smirnoff.
But just in case anyone is interested.
http://www.myspringwater.com/SpringWaterInformation/LeadingWaterBrands.aspx
Aquafina®
This well-known bottled water brand produced by PepsiCo is derived from a municipal source and goes through a purification process that uses charcoal filtration, reverse-osmosis, ozonination and other elements of the process. During purification, virtually all of the natural minerals are removed from the water, giving it a light, mellow taste.
Dasani®
Coca-Cola’s flagship purified bottled water brand is also derived from a municipal source and undergoes a reverse-osmosis-based purification process. However, Dasani® gets a blend of minerals added back after the purification process, giving it a crisp taste.
Evian®
This upscale spring water comes from a source in the northern French Alps. The water is collected from an aquifer that is fed by snowmelt and rainfall. Other than filtration through the ground’s sand and clay, no other purifying process is used to produce this bottled water.
Thanks Army Wife, I’ll be praying for your cousin too! Yes the treatment, as Dr. Lorraine Day put it so well, is often basically a race to see what you kill first, the cancer or the patient. I’m done with it now and just recovering from the long term effects, thank the Lord.
Thanks for the great water (and vodka) tips everyone, it’s very helpful.
Jannah,
I forgot to mention to put the vodka through the Brita filter 3 times. Have Fun! Get well soon.
A couple of years ago, I read about a study of several dozen brands of bottled water that tested them for contaminants inside the bottle. Over half of the brands had higher levels of contaminants than are allowable in tap water. Unfortunately, I can’t remember if the test was only of European bottled water, or if it included other brands as well (I believe the study was done by European scientists). They said that some of the contamination probably occurred during the bottling process (Laverne and Shirley didn’t wash their hands apparently), but some of the water was probably contaminated prior to bottling. Eeeek!
That said, I drink bottled water every so often, usually refilling at the water fountain at school when I finish a bottle. Clearly, I can’t be that concerned. On the other hand, I wouldn’t drink water in DC for over 10 years after there were problems with lead (or other contaminants) levels the summer I worked as a Congressional aide. Reason I wouldn’t drink for so long: the city said the problem was fixed and then IT WASN’T. I still avoid drinking tap water there unless I am REALLY thirsty. Of course, my sister drank from the water fountains the whole time we were on the Hill that summer (apparently she missed the stories about water contamination) and she is fine (aside from a disturbing tendency to like and believe Obama). Make of that what you will.
So much for plastic substitutes being sooo much better for us and the environment. How many municipalities do you think recycle SIGG bottles?
BB, a lot of people in my area (mid-Michigan) have well-water, including my parents, and it really is undrinkable.
AAW and Jannah, y’all are in my prayers too. My rage-addled, often-incoherent prayers. But still.
Jill, my well water is drinkable, as long as you like the taste of rock salt mixed with Ivory soap.
Jill & MC Mom – There ARE exceptions, of course. And using a filter or having large bottles of water inside your home are different from simply buying individual water bottles as your only source due to dubious concerns about water safety. I also buy them, but infrequently and I do reuse the bottles.
Uhm, BB? I wouldn’t exactly call 20% of US households an exception.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/water.html
Frankly, I don’t have a problem with water companies, big or small. And I’m not just saying this as a person who has NEVER lived in a home with city water service (not counting dorm days).
Water providers saw a market for clean tasting, chlorine free water in portable, disposable packages. They commercially filled market needs. Sure, some homes have perfectly potable water flowing magically from silver spiggots but it’s none of our business if they choose to drink it or purchase water elsewhere. This is commerce.
Chances are, you don’t really NEED to jump on Deceiver daily. I’m pretty sure there’s a source of entertainment elsewhere in your life, without all the hassle of buying a computer, running electricity, and paying for internet access. And actually, you could check in via a library computer if you really needed your daily snark fix.
Except you didn’t do that.
I’ll bet it was because Yahoo brainwashed you, right?
Thanks Beige. LOL
And Ed!
thanks Beige for your prayers. Right now that is all we can give her. Her body is shutting down. She beats leukemia only to have chemo destroy her body. If cancer does not get you, then what cures you does. Damn shame.
Every brand of bottled water that I’ve ever bought tastes, to me, like the plastic it came in. The only exceptions are San Pellegrino and bubbly Perrier, which come in glass and which I bought for the carbonation. I quit buying them because of the cost, and once I get a seltzer bottle and a few chargers, I’m going to put my Brita filters through their paces and make my own fizzy filtered drinks at home.
We all know disposable water bottles are wasteful and bad for the environment, yet their production is growing rapidly everywhere. Just 20 years ago the market for plastic water bottles was practically nonexistent, but today we produce billions of these completely unnecessary products. There can be only one sane response, plastic water bottles must be banned!
http://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2009/10/water-bottle-manifesto.html