Here's the link to the Science article.

Edited by ashleyb on 04/15/2009 00:08:13 MDT.

Thanks, Dondo, but DARN! Well hopefully it will only make me sleepy as opposed to giving me testicular cancer :grimace:

Does anyone know if PE might be safer than PP? I just hate the taste of plasticizers from PE...never looked into what causes that plasticky (sp?) taste but assumed that it wasn't anything good.

Here is the referenced article.

Edit - oops, already linked to. I wasn't looking at the most recent post.

Edited by dsmontgomery on 04/15/2009 07:21:32 MDT.

Tad, sorry to bring lawyers into this.:-). In fact, I hesitated before posting the url. But you have to pay to read the full article in the "Globe and Mail" as well as in "Science".

Ashley, thanks for providing a link to the "Science" abstract.

Personally, I'm not that wedded to the idea of pouring boiling water into plastic and can easily go back to rehydrating my food in a .9 L pot.

Edited by Dondo on 04/15/2009 07:38:38 MDT.

The hard containers do not contain BPA - they are still flexible. Do take a look at the manufacturers websites if you don't believe me.
BPA was primarily used in baby bottles/water bottles - the kind of things used to hold liquids that would shatter if dropped from a distance. Sandwich boxes would not work well with a hardener added - they need to be flexible for the lid to go on right.

On the boiling water point....take a digital thermometer with you and test it - by the time you get to adding the water to your food it is below boiling. And even more so as you go higher in altitude. If one is worried just let the water sit for a minute or two in the pot, then pour.

Sarah, in this case the issue is not BPA but other chemicals leaching into your food. Is this a possible health issue? No one knows at this point. Though I love your recipes, I think I'll use them without the plastic.

Sarah - from what I can read on this thread the discussion is also about other plastics. Freezer bags and many hard containers do not contain BPA but there is still some concern surrounding other types of plastics and leaching especially when we are doing things that cause the plastics to soften.

I used BPA Nalgenes for over a decade before Health Canada pulled them - this could very well happen with other plastics. The point is that this is a use that freezer bags were not intended for. I use them from time to time myself so please don't be offended.

Both Glad and Ziploc have indicated that these are not rated for boiling water. Whether this is because of the possibility of burns, leaching or just the mere fact that there hasn't been a conclusive study proving their safety or lack of safety is still unknown.

I really do like the products from LokSak.com as they are reuseable, durable and rated for use with boiling water.

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 04/15/2009 08:51:09 MDT.

>Ashley, thanks for providing a link to the "Science" abstract.

That's odd. When I clicked the link the first time, I could also access the full text in addition to the abstract.

Devin, if you figure out how to do that again, please post. I'd like to read it.

I think I'm a lot more likely to die in a car wreck than be killed by toxin leaching from plastic, the couple of times a year I boil in a freezer bag.

Well sure, Joe. But if something potentially hazardous is easily avoided, why not avoid it. After all, people have been camping for many years without pouring boiling water into plastic containers.

Edited by Dondo on 04/15/2009 09:05:23 MDT.

Canada's famous paddler/filmmaker Bill Mason died from liver cancer. He lived outdoors 6 months a year, and seeing him with his extensive Nalgene collection only makes me wonder...

Having been recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and having read this...

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/sep/17/health/chi-bpa-16sep17

it really makes me wonder. Of course, in my case there was also a family history... but I used my personal drinking bottle every day (not just when backpacking)... it just makes me pause and think a little about what goes into my body.

Which is why I got the Ziplock steamer bags to try out...they're designed for hot temps whilst the freezer bags are designed for , well, the freezer. I'll have to look for the LokSak bags that Laurie mentioned and give them a try, too.

Don't worry too much if you can't read the full text of the Science article... it is a very short report, and very technical. Almost all of the interesting comments and conclusions are in the abstract.

If you google around you can probably find a few more newspaper articles related to this report. I read one where they interviewed the main author of the study, and what he said was more interesting than the content of the report itself.

Basically there are extra chemical additives that often go into making polypro products, and it is these additives that leach out (at room temperature even). They have not studied anything to do with health effects. Their point is that some of the "contaminants" leaking out are biologically active and interfere with the results of lab experiments.