No more polycarbonate bottles and cans of soda for me!

I’m sure all you readers own at least one plastic bottle made of polycarbonate. I own two that I bought last year in my goal to become fit (which I am implementing this summer). Plastic bottles made of polycarbonate were popular because they were clear and nearly unbreakable. I wanted them because I saw everybody else carrying them.

The Canadian government is planning to declare that the chemical, bisphenol-A or BPA, is toxic due to studies showing that low doses of this chemical caused rats to develop tumors, urinary tract problems, and early puberty. This chemical is what makes polycarbonate.

The Hudson’s Bay Company has removed all baby-related products from its stores and plans to remove other merchandise made from polycarbonate.

Wal-Mart Canada removed all polycarbonate merchandise from its stores and Wal-Mart USA plans to remove polycarbonate baby-related merchandise by early next year.

Now retailers are wondering what to do with soft drinks sold in aluminum or steel cans. “For the last two decades, the interiors of most cans have been coated with an epoxy resin that is made using the chemical to extend the shelf life of the contents and prevent the metal from affecting the flavors of food and drinks.”

“John M. Rost, the chairman of the North American Metal Packaging Alliance, an industry group, said that there was no evidence that the linings expose humans to significant amounts of the chemical, a position not shared by all scientists. He added that researchers had been unable to develop an alternative lining that performs as well as the current epoxy.”

So this chemical, in LOW DOSES, causes tumors, urinary tract problems, and early puberty for rats. UGH. I am not allowing any more polycarbonate products in my household. The plastic bottles are supposed to be nearly unbreakable. I wonder how long it would take to decompose. Especially since ordinary plastic bottles take 450 years to decompose. Polycarbonate is not recyclable either.

I’m going to keep my water bottles as artwork representing the dangers of convenience, covetousness, Capitalism, and plastic. Why didn’t Thermo Fisher Scientific, the company that made the polycarbonate bottles, do these studies in the first place?