Nathan Designs Stainless Steel Straw Bottle Review

A review of the Nathan Designs bottle from our friend Chris of the Quintessential Quill:

"Nathan, oh Nathan, how do I love ye! Let me count the ways!

1. Nice wide mouth to put in ice;

2. Great designs; stylish and nice;

3. A handy straw; flip up for a sip;

4. And hook it to your belt with a handy clip!

Bad poetry aside, I love, love, love this stylish bottle. It holds ample amounts of water to see you through an outing; it has an awesome flip straw that lets you drink your fill without tipping the bottle. Its wide mouth lets you clean it easily, as well as add ice to keep your drink cold. The stainless steel means no leaching of harmful chemicals and the designs give it the extra kick that Klean Kanteen is lacking.

Best of all? The clip, oh the clip! Ever overload yourself and need an extra hand to carry the water out to the car? Well, trouble no more! Clip your bottle to your belt, backpack, diaper bag, purse…it can clip to almost anything.

This bottle is all-around awesome. It has replaced my Siggs (sorry Sigg) and is used more than my Klean Kanteen, though it is a toss up there. The Klean Kanteen does come in different sizes; something that Nathan might want to consider. If that happens, it will be only Nathan’s for me!"

BPA free stainless steel Nathan bottles hold 24 ounces and are available for $24.55 from our store in 4 designs and 1 solid.

NY Times gear test for water bottles

"Health-conscious athletes are choosing alternatives made from stainless steel, aluminum or BPA-free plastics. “Last year at this time we couldn’t pay anyone to take our stainless-steel bottles,” said Sloan Russell, the president of Guyot Designs, in Deer Isle, Maine. Now bottle sales at Guyot are expected to be $3 million this year, up from $60,000 in 2007. " Check out more of this commentary and slideshow of images from the NY Times.

Klean Kanteen vs. SIGG

We asked our friend Chris Jonard of the the Quintessential Quill to help us cover our most frequently asked question: Should I get a Kleen Kanteen or a SIGG?

Here is Chris' review:

With all the media coverage about BPA and its potential hazards, as well as the massive waste generated by disposable water bottles, getting a reusable water bottle makes sense. There are several options out there, but which one works the best?

Reusable plastic bottles are an option, but for those that want to be BPA free, plastic is kind of scary right now. This leads to metal water bottles. The top contenders are SIGG and Klean Kanteen. In a personal trial between the two, the clean winner came out to be Kleen Kanteen for a variety of reasons.

First, let’s talk SIGG. The SIGG bottles have different designs on them, many of which are just too cool for words. There are some seriously beautiful and extremely cute bottles out there. But judge not a book by its cover, as they say, for looks are not everything. I found that with everyday use, the SIGGs dent extremely easily. In fact, my first SIGG dented before it was even used! However, that is cosmetic and can be overlooked—though for the price one would think they would be a bit sturdier. I do have a friend, though, who says the liner on the inside has cracked due to a particularly deep dent. This however, has not been my experience (yet?) Also, the lids leak—thanks to a VERY determined toddler! Overall, I just am not sold on these, which is sad because, as I mentioned before, they are beautiful!

Kleen Kanteen has sleek lines that make them attractive, though not nearly as pretty as SIGG. However, rugged use with my KKs has yet to dent them at all. They are much sturdier (and a bit heavier) and the sports lid, so far, has been leak free. Oh! Another WONDERFUL thing about the KKs is that the mouth of the bottle is wide, so you can fit in a regular cleaning brush to clean it. The SIGG needs a special brush to get in there to scrub. Also, you can easily put regular ice in the KKs. My ONE complaint about the KKs is they are kind of boring compared to SIGG design-wise, but that is a minor complaint. They have spiced things up a bit by adding colors—I can only hope that designs are soon to follow?

So, to sum it up—the SIGGs are eye candy, but for a meaningful, long-lasting relationship, the trusty, sturdy Kleen Kanteens are the way to go.

Independent Panel of Scientists weigh in on FDA's BPA policy

We have long tracked reports that bisphenol-a (BPA) may be a contributor to cancer, heart disease and more. We also shared the Food and Drug Administration's confusing assessment that BPA is probably not all that bad.

The New York Times published Thursday that an independent panel of scientists agree in a scathing report that the FDA has thus far not proven their case that plastic is safe. The Times published an editorial on BPA Sunday urging the FDA to "complete a more rigorous assessment".

We agree.

Choosing Green as Poverty Solution : Blog Action Day 2008

People choose to buy green products for many reasons. Many are concerned about their personal health and choose bisphenol-a free bottles and safe plastics to prevent toxins. Some are concerned about saving earth resources. Others are attracted to the celebrities promoting conscious consumerism.

Whatever the reason, choosing green may have the added benefit of reducing poverty.
Poverty is worsened by consumption of virgin material goods. When deforestation and commercial development happen, locals rarely profit. Instead they are left with lower water and air quality, which leads to health problems, lost working time, and more poverty (2006 United Nations Human Development Report). Eco-friendly products often use recycled or reclaimed materials, keeping materials in the use cycle and relying less on virgin materials.

Poverty in the US is often the result of health problems bankrupting families. In fact, in 2001 alone, 50% of Americans filing for bankruptcy, or 1.9 - 2.2 million people, cited medical reasons (Policy Journal of the Health Sphere). While there are many factors causing health emergencies, environmental pollution and toxins are surely high on the list. Research keeps confirming that serious health problems are caused by toxins like bisphenol-a, phthalates, and more in everyday products. Earth friendly products eliminate pollutants in the manufacturing process and final materials. As consumers demand and use eco-friendly non-toxic items, I remain hopeful that heart disease and cancers will decline, with the poverty rate following.

Poverty is diminished when workers are paid fairly, have access to health care, and are not exposed to risk at work (World Bank). Most manufacturers of green goods use fair employment practices as a way to increase their trust with consumers and maintain quality. At BayingHound, we ask tough questions of our manufacturers and demand to know where and how their products are made. If a manufacturer can not answer, or is not concerned about fair employment, we do not carry their items.

Poverty is a complex problem, to be sure. Purchasing green gear is one solution among many.

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This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

More houshold toxins news

Newsweek online has an article about household toxins up right now. One of the main toxins of concern right now is BPA in food/beverage containers. It is nice to see this issue getting exposure in the media as we feel it is an important issue people need to be aware of.

I was especially pleased to see mention of canned foods in the article. We've been especially concerned about this issue for some time as foods stay in contact wit the BPA-containing material for extended periods of time in cans. Also, many foods are acidic in nature (tomatoes, any fruit, etc…) which will only serve to increase the leaching potential from the plastic liner. As a solution, we can a lot of our own food in the home. Rachel had a marathon session last month and canned a huge amount of tomato sauce and apple sauce for use over the winter. We also make extensive use of vacuum sealing and our deep freezer for food storage/preservation.

So what do you all think? How concerned are you about BPA? What do you do to prevent this chemical from entering your food supply?

SIGG thermal question

I received an interesting question about SIGGs via email today:

Are there any health concerns with pouring boiling water into Sigg bottles to make tea and then letting it are cool and placing it in the refrigerator or freezer to cool it off?

My answer:

This report: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-23192477770352/bpareport.pdf verifies that SIGGs do not leach BPA at higher temperatures. I have seen no anecdotal or empirical evidence that SIGG bottles cause ill health effects with high temperature contents.

However, there is a chance that the thermal shock of putting boiling water in a bottle and then transferring to the freezer could cause separation between the weld that holds the mouthpiece to the bottle. SIGG recommends not fully freezing bottles for this reason, although I have done this by accident once or twice with no damage to the bottle.

US Toxicology Program report on BPA

We encourage you to read this draft brief of the US Toxicology Program report on BPA.

It is a synthesis of many studies about BPA. In sum, the Toxicology Program is leaning towards the conclusion that BPA is undeniably present in humans and the effects of BPA exposure are not desirable. This report makes no recommendations for consumers but does recommend further study by US scientific bodies.

We aren't in the fear mongering business at Baying Hound. But if you are thinking about making the switch from plastic to non-BPA containers, we are happy to supply you with alternatives. We have SIGG aluminum bottles and boxes (a great bento alternative!), Guyot Designs silicone bowls and utensils, and Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottles arriving soon.

Slew of News about BPA

National news media is reporting a number of stories relating to BPA:

1) Nalgene is phasing out production of BPA containing bottles
2) The government of Canada is banning the import of containers with BPA
3) The US National Toxicology Program declared that human risks of BPA cannot be dismissed

If you need to replace plastic bottles, we offer a few alternatives:

SIGG aluminum bottles are lined with a BPA free epoxy. The oval and hot and cool SIGGs are produced in stainless steel with no liner.

We are also ordering Guyot Designs stainless steel wide mouth bottles.

More articles about BPA

Our local newspaper finally did a story about BPA. The Columbus Dispatch interviewed Jon at our favorite local outdoor store, Clintonville Outfitters. (I guess these guys are competition, but they deserve a mention anyways because they are a great local business.)

Toxicology Letters recently published a study that found BPA leaks from polycarbonate bottles throughout their life, and increases up to 55 fold when boiling water is added.

Alex is working on a blog post about how SIGGs do not contain BPA and why the SIGG inner liner is safe. Right, Alex?

BPA - The silent killer (or at least the estrogen assassin)

I was previously a journalist for my high school newspaper in my younger years. During this time, I learned the impact that images could have on a written story.

With this in mind, I felt it was only appropriate to lead off with the skull n' crossbones.

I started writing this post after reading the following article on CNN this morning:

AP story on BPA

So what exactly is BPA? I had to look this up as I haven't seen it before. Its full name is Bisphenol A, which is a phenolic compound used in the synthesis of many different types of plastics. Most notably for our purposes, BPA is an important component of polycarbonate. For our interest, polycarbonate appears in most hard plastic water bottles that are available for consumer purchase. While BPA is simply a precursor chemical, it does appear in the end product as chemical reactions are rarely fully completed. As such, it can leach from the completed polycarbonate material into the surrounding environment.

As far as health effects go, it is a compound known to interfere with estrogen in the human body. This leads to a wide range of potential problems that can arise.

For more info on BPA, check out:

BPA information from Wikipedia

What are the solutions? Buy a SIGG water bottle of course. While they are lined with an epoxy compound (another type of polymer) they are completely BPA free. Or, if you really want to go for polymer free try one of the stainless steel flasks which we offer. Only slightly heavier and very durable.

Happy Holidays and drink safely!