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.
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Cooking in Quart ziplocs and BPAs
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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.
>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.
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.
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