SIGG bottle liner safety

SIGG Bottle, Photo by Jilly Salva

A recently announced voluntary product Exchange Program for SIGG reusable water bottles, has a lot of people re-thinking their water bottle situation. There’s a growing movement to eliminate Bisphenol A from food and drink containers. SIGG has done just that with their SIGG Bottle liners manufactured after August 2008. If you purchased a SIGG bottle before August 2008, then read on.

What’s all the fuss over Bisphenol A?
Bisphenol A more commonly known as BPA is often used in manufacturing to harden plastics. According to the SIGG company web site, prior to August 2008 the compound BPA was utilized in SIGG bottle liners.

BPA can mimic estradiol which is the main sex hormone in women. Men have small amounts in their systems. Apparently, the BPA disrupts the human body’s functions and studies have shown it to cause everything from hyperactivity to heart disease to cancer.

Toxic or safe chemical?
It’s important to note that SIGG did nothing wrong in its use of BPA for its bottle liners. The US Food and Drug Administration has already stated that BPA is “safe in low levels.”

However, the controversy rages on about BPA and after reading a number of articles discussing the health risks, my preference is to limit my exposure to it.

SIGG bottle exchange program
SIGG has offered to replace your older bottles with new Sigg bottles through the end of October at no charge. These new bottles no longer contain the compound BPA in the liner. All consumers have to do is following the Exchange Program directions.  You’ll have to pay for shipping your bottle(s) back, however, that’s a small price to pay for piece of mind.