Sigg in serious troubled waters...

In case you haven't heard, Sigg the well-known Swiss metal water bottle makers admitted "last Friday that the closely guarded secret ingredients of the lining inside all Sigg bottles made before August 2008 contain traces of BPA."

Tsk, tsk, considering the popularity of Sigg bottles grew dramatically as word-spread of the potential harmful links of BPA.

In case you're wondering what exactly BPA is (a.k.a. Bisphenol A)...

"BPA is a chemical used for making polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and sippy cups. It's also a material in the resin linings that coat metal food cans (think soup, beans and the fruits and veggies in your pantry) and beverage containers, (think Coke, Pepsi and all the brands that wish they were)."

As author, Nena Baker continues to point out in her article titled "Why I'll Swig from My Sigg No More," she "learned how stacks of peer-reviewed studies plausibly link BPA to infertility, prostate and breast cancers, a decline in semen quality, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. And [she] saw chemical manufacturers using tricks straight out of Big Tobacco's playbook in an attempt to downplay the hazards of BPA."

You can read the full Sigg CEO letter here, that state "To be clear, all SIGG bottles made since August 2008 contain our new BPA free EcoCare liner. SIGG bottles manufactured prior to August 2008 have the former water‐based epoxy liner which contains trace amounts of BPA. These bottles have been thoroughly tested and showed 0% leaching of BPA."

Regardless, I think Sigg is in serious hot water. And I must admit, I for one, am glad I do not own one! I have a metal water bottle I picked up in Paris at Au Vieux Campeur before my trip to India last year. I'm not carrying it with me at the moment, so I don't recall the brand, but I do recall checking to see it was BPA-free. Anyway, I'd been considering buying a smaller one to carry around. Loved the designs of Sigg, and I can honestly say now... No thank you. Talk about serious greenwashing, in fact, more like plain out consumer-lying!

So I just thought I'd pass along this email forward from my friend Simon, "How Can [You] Tell When A Product Is Being Greenwashed?" Thanks, Simon. And thank you, Leiko for posting this original Advertising Age article, "Marketing News: Sigg Does Damage Control" that lead me to investigate all this further.

Tell me... Do you own a Sigg bottle? Are you concerned? Would you mail it in for a new one, OR consider switching to Klean Kanteen? They may not have designy patterns... But they have beautiful bright colours to choose from!

Okay, all this water bottle talk is so serious... I know many of you already follow DesignerJots' blog, but if you don't, and/or didn't know, she's hosting a cross-blog giveaway (two giveaways!) check it out here... You can win a signed copy of Illustrator Claudia Pearson's "Tribal Alphabet" and/or DesignerJots' newest jumbo journal designs!

That's all the news from Ecojot headquarters... I have to pack up some little ecoWorkbooks for Spencertown Academy Arts Center's Fourth Annual FESTIVAL OF BOOKS! It's a great event that will "explore the relationship of books and readers in the digital age with twenty outstanding guest authors including Francine Prose, Mary Gaitskill, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, poet Sharon Olds, and many others."

The even starts this Friday, but since it was a last minute request, they'll be getting the ecoWorkbooks next week =) If you live in and around Columbia County in Upstate New York be sure to check the event out!

xo,

ej