Watch a video report on the Nalgene recallA collective groan arose in Missoula on the day it was announced that Nalgene was discontinuing its current line of plastic water bottles and replacing them with BPA-free varieties.
Collective because two commonalities in Missoula are dogs and Nalgene bottles - seemingly everyone has them.
And while Nalgene bottles, those multicolored, highly personalized hard plastic water bottles often seen carabinered to backpacks or bike racks, are only one of a number of plastic products containing BPA, in Missoula at least, they represent the crux of the plastic problem.
“Ever since a week ago, there have been a lot of folks who want clarification,” Sean Kissane, the REI store manager said. “We're not the experts on BPA, but we want to simplify the process for consumers.”
Simplifying in this case means removing the choice.
“We don't have a BPA water bottle available for sale in the company,” Kissane said.
New Nalgene water bottles manufactured with BPA-free plastic already are available, among other alternatives at area sporting goods stores.
And in the weeks after the BPA announcement, some Missoula sporting goods stores didn't have many alternatives in stock either.
“The Klean Kanteens (stainless steel water bottles) have been very popular,” Kissane said. “We sold out in one day.”
It was the same story at the Trailhead, where Molly Bradford shopped for replacements for her family's water bottles and her 18-month-old daughter's sippy cups.
“This is my favorite water bottle, but I don't have the BPA-free one, so I might get one of these,” Bradford said, holding up a milky white CamelBack.
Bradford's research into alternatives to plastic drinking containers is not exhaustive, but she has put a lot of thought into making the right choices for her family.
In the wake of the draft report on Bisphenol A, many people remain confused about which plastics to avoid, which alternatives are safe and which ones are just slick marketing.
Andrij Holian is not an expert on plastic, but he is a professor of toxicology and the director for the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Montana.
“When something is suspected of being a concern, there are usually two sides, especially with something that is manufactured,” Holian explained. “You look back at lead paint, and you realize we were one of the last countries to ban it because the industry fought back.”
But then you have the story of saccharin, that famous faux sweetener thought to cause bladder cancer in rats, in which much of the data was overstated, according to Holian.
“Essentially, a compound that was not as bad as stated was taken off the market,” Holian said.
Holian's point is that in every controversy, there are two sides.
And the plastic controversy is no different.
“My advice is to err a little on the side of caution, but don't get hysterical with it,” Holian said.
By hysterical, he means dumping all your plastic and overloading the landfill with materials that take 700 years to biodegrade while filling your cupboards with expensive stainless steel and breakable glass.
“Chances are we know that under more severe conditions we get leaching in plastics,” Holian said. “So don't store stuff in it, don't put orange juice or tomato juice in it, and don't put hot water in it.”
Still, there is a lot to know about which plastics leach what kind of toxins and under what conditions.
For some people, just the ambiguity of the whole thing is enough to make them toss it all, from the Rubbermaid to the Tupperware.
Tiffany Seaman is wired, like many Missoula moms. She gets daily updates about toxic toys from China and other helpful hints for moms on www.babycenter.com.
She keeps a list of the seven plastic types on her refrigerator, with a note that plastics with a recycle number of 1 and 5 are the safest.
“It got a lot harder when I started looking at all the Web sites,” Seaman said. “BPA is in liquid soaps, baby lotion, hand lotion, all kinds of stuff. I just had to chuck it all out.”
Dr. Laurie Carter, medical director of the pediatric hospitalist program at Community Medical Center has seen this all before.
“This is definitely not a new thing,” Carter said, explaining that a controversy over phthalates, chemicals used to soften plastics, caused an uproar over pacifiers, teething rings and toys several years ago.
“At this point, I wouldn't recommend avoiding all plastics,” Carter said. “That's beyond what's necessary, beyond what's scientifically proven or even suggested.”
Carter said glass has its own risks, and that using plastics correctly should alleviate a lot of the concern about harmful chemicals leaching into foods and beverages.
But the controversy over plastics is producing changes in the medical community, which is highly reliant on plastics to save lives.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Community recently changed out all the plastics containing phthalates, especially in infant males.
Across town at St. Patrick Hospital, staff members were given Klean Kanteens as part of the hospital's sustainability and recycling efforts.
“We wanted to drive down our use of plastic water bottles,” said Beth Schenk, a registered nurse and facilitator of women's health at the hospital. “Part of this was the health issue and part of it was the plastic waste.”
The hospital ordered 2,000 of the popular bottles with the hospital's logo to give away to staff members.
And for all the students carrying around Nalgene bottles with a Griz pawprint on them, a new option is available as well, thanks to the Associated Students of the University.
“The ASUM Sustainability Center has come out with what we're calling green Grizzly Nalgene bottles,” ASUM president Trevor Hunter said in a phone message.
The BPA-free bottles are available on campus for $6.50.
In the sports and outdoor-centered lifestyles of Missoula, it seems you can take the BPA out of the plastic, but you can't take the plastic entirely out of Missoula.
“It seems we're all ‘doing more,' ” Molly Bradford said. “Be that more work, more errands, more working out. Š We seem to be busier Š and very ‘on the go.' For me, this means I want water in my car, I want water at the gym, I want water on my desk.”
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