Two accessories are universal to everyone’s college experience: a black NorthFace fleece and a Nalgene bottle.

I joined students nationwide in their fear of collapsing of dehydration in their respective college towns. Nalgene-carrying has become a trend to be reckoned with. Much to my dismay, as well as that of 75 or more percent of the collegiate and camping population, the company has decided to recall its hard plastic bottles within the next few months.

The containers are made with bishephonol A (BPA), a product which is suggested to cause “aggressive cancers,” per National Geographic Adventure blogger Steve Casimiro.

Hold up. Haven’t Nalgenes always implied an attempt to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Don’t they help to ensure drinking those 6 to 8 glasses of water a day, and then some? They were part of the whole outdoorsy-but-not image on campus. Sure, they weren’t really unbreakable (I’ve ruined 2, myself), but they seemed so… harmless. How unnerving to think that something so basic, so innocent as a water bottle, is now up there with cell phones, cigarette smoke, and artificial sweeteners as a carcinogen.

Casimiro writes:

“a study from California published in April shows that BPA directly alters genes in breast cells so that they resemble cancer cells…. Earlier this year, in the first direct test for bisphenol A migration in water bottles, University of Cincinnati scientists found that BPA leaches from polycarbonate containers at room temperature whether the bottle is old or new. More alarming, when the bottle has hot water in it, the chemical is released up to 55 times faster.” Read More »