The burning embers left from SIGG and BPA

DOUBLE UGH! Before I get into that, I just want you to know that my website, myEARTH360.com, only carries the new EcoCare lined SIGG bottles, which are bpa and phthalate free. We also offer unlined, bpa-free food grade stainless steel reusable bottles.

Now. About the DOUBLE UGH. I have been struggling with SIGG's non-disclosure of bisphenol A since the news broke a few weeks ago and, being a small biz owner that has been touting the SIGG brand from the tree-tops, you can only imagine the blazing fires that required my undivided attention. Phone calls, emails, everyone tweeting and blogging about it or posting their utter disappointment (and words I cannot repeat here) on facebook. I cannot even begin to fathom the amount of CO2 released as a result.

The potential dangers of BPA has been a topic of my blog and tweets. Worse, warnings against BPA were part of the I Count for myEARTH campaign that I personally created and then launched, with the Student Council, at my son's elementary school in early 2008. I even offered custom-printed SIGG bottles for purchase (with a portion of all sales going back to the school) as an eco-friendlier alternative to bottled water and a safe alternative to plastic reusables! I, myself, truly believed SIGG bottles were 100% bpa-free.

But, in fact, SIGG never really made the "bpa-free" statement. "100% leach free" of BPA was the language they used. Ah, semantics. Something that can really kick you in the rear if you're not careful. The tarnish on SIGG equates to a bullet hole in the heart of myEARTH360.com. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic.

SIGG bottles manufactured before August 2008 contained trace amounts of BPA. They are not on recall, but SIGG has accepted responsibility, publicly apologized [excerpt below] for not disclosing this information sooner when everyone was hounding them about the ingredients of their liner.

There is good news: SIGG continues to stand behind the safety of the former bottle liners (manufactured previous to August 2008), which were rigorously--and independently--tested to be 100% leach-free. All test results are available on SIGG's website. But if you're concerned about your bottle's safety, SIGG will exchange it for one with the new EcoCare Liner [learn more about the SIGG exchange program here].

Although I still think they're safe (I drank from my "old" bottle at yoga today), myEARTH360.com's CFO was concerned that SIGG bottles with the former liners were unlikely to sell even at a discount. Fortunately, SIGG accepted them back in exchange for new bottles.

For those of you who are confused or unsure whether you have the old model or the new, I'm here to help (and if you want to exchange yours, you can visit our site to find out how to exchange your SIGG bottle if, in fact, it has the former lining and you're not comfortable with that). I'm sorry it took me so long to write this, but I struggled with the manner in which I should express myself. After talking to a friend the other night about the situation and how I was struggling with it, she told me that's what I should write. So here I am telling you how I've been dealing with the situation and how it's impacted me... and my 2nd child, myEARTH360.com

The media has essentially created a panic. A friend left a long message today, "Someone told me they went on a field trip with their kids and the moms were talking on the bus about SIGG bottles not being safe--maybe having bpa?--and they're quite concerned. Do you know about this? Is it true?! Call me!" While the fires are more or less under control for us at the moment, the embers will probably burn for a while.

Here are some helpful resources :

What's the difference between SIGG's former liner and the new EcoCare Liner?

How do I exchange my SIGG reusable water bottle if it has the former lining?

SIGG CEO Steve Wasik's apology [excerpt from Huffington Post}

I learned about the liner's content in 2006, when there was debate in the scientific community about the effects of BPA. Scientists lined up on both sides of the issue: Some said BPA posed potential health risks, others said BPA was perfectly safe.

With the issue still very much undecided, SIGG decided to develop a BPA-free liner to eliminate consumer concern about our products. To be sure that BPA did not leach from our bottle liners, we commissioned independent scientific studies and asked the labs to rigorously test our bottles and bottles made by other companies. We urged them to put all bottles through tortuous conditions. Those tests reassured us because they showed SIGG liners leached no BPA. We posted those studies on our web site to provide consumers the information about product performance that seemed to me relevant at the time.

Today, the debate continues. Scientists are still split on the issue. But the consumer environment has changed. Because of the all the conflicting data, a growing number of people have decided to eliminate the concern from their lives by avoiding BPA. Given the situation, I recently decided that we had to tell everyone that bottles manufactured with our former liner (prior to August 2008) contained trace amounts of BPA.

Read Steve's full apology on the Huffington Post.

Please feel free to email me direct at lynn@myearth360.com with any questions.