You know those SIGG aluminum water bottles that eco-geeks carry around with them as a protest against plastic bottles? Well apparently, SIGG bottles manufactured before August of last year contain BPA in their epoxy liner – according to a press statement made recently by Steve Wasik, CEO of Sigg. (Bisphenol A, as many of you know, has been shown to be an estrogen-like endocrine disruptor, and most companies have been removing it from food and drinking containers in the past few years). We feel strongly about the bottled water issue and have done our fair share of Sigg bottle promotion on Inhabitat over the years, so we were appalled to hear this news today.
Upon reading the Sigg press release, I’m not sure we should be so appalled at our support for the company’s products or SIGG’s disclosure. Steve Wasik writes that even though the old liner contained trace amounts of BPA, the older bottles had been “thoroughly tested and showed 0% leaching of BPA.” I’ve used SIGG bottles for years, but I haven’t really kept up with this issue. Still, the development of a new 100 percent BPA-free liner means for me at least that SIGG is following the conversation closely and responsive to evolving concerns about water contamination.