I thought I was being healthy

Have you thrown away your Nalgene bottles yet? There is concern that your water will pick up Bisphenol A from your bottle and cause cancer.

The New York Times says Canadian Retailer Bans Some Plastic Bottles

A trade group says don't worry so much.

From what I can understand this can be a problem if the plastic is type "1," "4" or "7" and you:

Put very hot water into your bottles
Freeze water in your bottles
Keep bottles after the writing wears off. (That apparently is a rule of thumb)

Boiling and freezing can encourage particles of plastic and the chemicals that make up the plastic to to your liquid. If the bottle is old enough to lose its printing, the particles could naturally leach into your drink. Then the particles accumulate in your body.

Crap.

This winter I've been sticking Gatorade-filled Nalgenes (Yep, there's a "7" on the bottom.) into the microwave. Starting a winter hike with hot liquids can be a lifesaver. One of the bottles I used hasn't been readable for a year and half. And of course in the summer I like to freeze the bottles to make sure I can have a cold drink during the day.

About the only way I could make this worse is if I decorated the bottles with lead paint, filled them with hot tap water and kept them in asbestos insulators.

If falling off mountains doesn't kill me, will the Nalgene bottles? I could have skipped boiling water in my Nalgenes. But if I didn't start with hot bottles, they would have frozen in my pack. How's that for irony? And I remember when warm tea in a Nalgene seriously helped me stave off hypothermia during a rescue.

I come nowhere close to having the background and knowledge needed to advise anyone on this issue. But speaking personally, the risk was offset by the need. You can disagree and make your choice. Do your research.

Luckily, Nalgene will help me out. They're discontinuing BPA in their bottles. I can spend my stimulus check on new bottles.