I got a Nalgene bottle over the weekend and I washed it in the dishwasher and I filled it with nice filtered water and it tastes like, um, Nalgene. Or penicillin.
Anyone out there have tips for how to break in a gross-tasting water bottle?
Usually with those sorts of plastic items, it just takes time to let it out-gas. When you're not using it, leave the cap off so the chemicals can escape.
Until the scent goes away, try eating a spoonful of sugar, breathing into a paper bag or drink standing on your head.
yeah. don't dishwash it. heat helps the plastic break down, and it'll leach stuff. and for that matter, try not leaving it in a hot car in the summer. and if you do, dump the water inside and rinse well before refilling.
if you have a scrub brush, use that to clean it. and some baking soda. you can also give it a vinegar rinse afterwards too. usually i'll fill it halfway with water, close it and shake really well, and repeat a few times, and that'll get rid of the plastic-y taste.
Holy cow. Thanks a lot for turning me on to this. I did some other poking around and found out more stuff that isn't in that blog post. The most interesting thing I learned: Toxicology studies typically expose test animals to monstrously high doses of something, find the level at which no effect was observed, and go about 100-1000 times lower than that for the "safe level" in humans. But at least for hormones and chemicals that mimic them (like Nalgene's demon BPA), this doesn't work at all because the dose-response curve isn't linear or even monotonic: small doses are not small versions of big doses, and will not just have fewer effects, they'll actually have different effects. And yet toxicology studies with "real-life" dose levels haven't caught on yet.
I'm not sure what to do with this information, though, beyond the washing instructions you suggest; the article I read suggests that we're either getting exposed to surprisingly large amounts of BPA all day or that it accumulates in the body after repeated exposure, and I've got no way to gauge whether using this Nalgene will alter my own dose substantially. At least I'm not pregnant -- the only effects mentioned were on pregnant women and developing fetuses...
In any case I'm a mite annoyed that the bottle is listed as "dishwasher-safe." I wonder how many other things we put in the dishwasher are heated to temperatures that challenge their chemical integrity?
and your dose strength thing reminds me of B12, how smaller/more frequent doses are absorbed better, and when the doses are increased/spaced out more, the more our bodies have a difficult time absorbing it.
I know someone who refuses to ever microwave anything in a container that's any kind of plastic for just those reasons, regardless of how "microwave safe" it claims to be. I'm not quite that strict myself, but it's not something I'd want to be doing every day over a long period of time.
I'm sure some people do though... I wonder if one could get any useful data from just trying to correlate existing personal habits regarding plastic containers with various health issues. I suppose it'd probably be impossible to tease apart from other correlating factors, though, such as lower/middle-income people being more likely to put eveyrthing in tupperware than rich folk.
Oh my lord!!! Do you KNOW how many horrible things like Lipase are leeching out of that ram's horn and into your body?? Your body is going to melt from the inside out as all your fatty tissues are broken apart by that enzyme.
In my personal experience, I've had good success breaking in Nalgene bottles with some slightly-acidic drink. My first gulp out of a new Nalgene is always lemonade, or Tang, or something like that. Kills two birds in that it seems to help the bottle, and I don't taste the skunky plastic until it's broken-in anyhow.
Now, with regard to overall safety, I feel I must point out that there is NOTHING in this world we have created, that won't kill you. The gases leeching from your car's upholstery. The carcinogens in french fries, not to speak of the saturated fats. The pollution in the air. The cell phone radio waves rocketing through you from every direction at this very second...
Biological toxicology studies are great. It's always useful to know what's in the stuff we have around us. But fundamentally they're written for three reasons, and "public safety" isn't one of them. 1) Publishing credentials for researchers, 2) Liability assignment for lawyers, and by extrapolation 3) Knee-jerk emotion-twisting nanny arguments and laws from politicians.
In fact, you're getting cancer in your eyeballs reading this comment right now. And that lead vapor leeching out of your computer right now is gathering in your nervous fluids and uterus too... ;)
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 01:51 pm (UTC)Until the scent goes away, try eating a spoonful of sugar, breathing into a paper bag or drink standing on your head.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 03:04 pm (UTC)http://www.radicalcongruency.com/20050405-are-nalgene-bottles-unsafe-1
if you have a scrub brush, use that to clean it. and some baking soda. you can also give it a vinegar rinse afterwards too. usually i'll fill it halfway with water, close it and shake really well, and repeat a few times, and that'll get rid of the plastic-y taste.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 03:48 pm (UTC)I'm not sure what to do with this information, though, beyond the washing instructions you suggest; the article I read suggests that we're either getting exposed to surprisingly large amounts of BPA all day or that it accumulates in the body after repeated exposure, and I've got no way to gauge whether using this Nalgene will alter my own dose substantially. At least I'm not pregnant -- the only effects mentioned were on pregnant women and developing fetuses...
In any case I'm a mite annoyed that the bottle is listed as "dishwasher-safe." I wonder how many other things we put in the dishwasher are heated to temperatures that challenge their chemical integrity?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 03:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 04:28 pm (UTC)and your dose strength thing reminds me of B12, how smaller/more frequent doses are absorbed better, and when the doses are increased/spaced out more, the more our bodies have a difficult time absorbing it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 04:33 pm (UTC)I'm sure some people do though... I wonder if one could get any useful data from just trying to correlate existing personal habits regarding plastic containers with various health issues. I suppose it'd probably be impossible to tease apart from other correlating factors, though, such as lower/middle-income people being more likely to put eveyrthing in tupperware than rich folk.
Bah!
Date: 2006-05-15 04:50 pm (UTC)Re: Bah!
Date: 2006-05-15 04:54 pm (UTC)(Eh. Odin will save you. Nevermind.)
Re: Bah!
Date: 2006-05-15 05:05 pm (UTC)Re: Bah!
Date: 2006-05-15 06:23 pm (UTC)Dooom, I say!! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 06:17 pm (UTC)Now, with regard to overall safety, I feel I must point out that there is NOTHING in this world we have created, that won't kill you. The gases leeching from your car's upholstery. The carcinogens in french fries, not to speak of the saturated fats. The pollution in the air. The cell phone radio waves rocketing through you from every direction at this very second...
Biological toxicology studies are great. It's always useful to know what's in the stuff we have around us. But fundamentally they're written for three reasons, and "public safety" isn't one of them. 1) Publishing credentials for researchers, 2) Liability assignment for lawyers, and by extrapolation 3) Knee-jerk emotion-twisting nanny arguments and laws from politicians.
In fact, you're getting cancer in your eyeballs reading this comment right now. And that lead vapor leeching out of your computer right now is gathering in your nervous fluids and uterus too... ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-15 06:20 pm (UTC)Couldn't have said it better myself. ;)