SIGG water bottle company has recently notified retailers, including CU, that their products made before 2008 may contain bisphenol A. (CU Independent/Aly Daughtry)
The SIGG water bottle company recently released a letter explaining that bottles made prior to 2008 contain trace amounts of bisphenol A.
SIGG notified retailers, including the CU Book Store, with the news.
Bisphenol A, known as BPA, is a potentially toxic industrial chemical used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy liners. Consumers changed to aluminum bottles after BPA was found in polycarbonate bottles. The latest warning from Sigg includes metal water bottles.
Pamela Mills, director of the CU Book Store, said the Book Store acted on the news immediately.
“We know water bottles are critical to this campus,” Mills said. “Notices were posted as soon as we heard about the BPA, and plenty of other choices in water bottles were offered.”
A letter was released in August stating that trace amounts of BPA had been found in the epoxy liner of SIGG water bottles in 2006. SIGG reported that bottles made after August 2008 are BPA free.
For the SIGG letter releasing BPA information visit the Sigg Web site.
SIGG bottles were tested in both the U.S. and Switzerland. All tests revealed no migration or leaching of BPA from the protective inner liner, according to the SIGG Web site.
Mills said there is little chance that the CU Book Store is still selling models made prior to the change in the liner.
“SIGG bottle designs change so much that we only stock a one month supply at a time,” Mills said. “It is extremely unlikely that we even have one bottle made prior to 2008 on our shelves.”
Steve Wasik, the CEO of SIGG, apologized to SIGG water bottle users on his blog.
“As chief executive officer of SIGG, a leading maker of reusable water bottles, I made a mistake when I decided not to announce that our old bottle liner contained trace amounts of bisphenol A,” Wasik said on his blog.
Despite the posted notices and media attention, some students remain unaware of the news.
Sonia Christensen, a 19-year-old sophomore English major said the news changed the way she thought about SIGG.
“I had no idea,” Christensen said. “I always thought SIGG bottles were really cool but they should have released that information earlier. I don’t think I would buy one now.”
For information on how to return an old SIGG model, visit the SIGG exchange program Web site.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Mullineaux at Lindsay.mullineaux@colorado.edu.
