BPA Losers: Gaiam Joins Sigg in Consumer Deceit

Oh how the mighty have fallen! First Sigg announced its aluminum water bottles contained BPA all along, now Gaiam has quietly updated their website to include information that their brand name aluminum bottles leach BPA into its contents too! If consumers can’t trust such green powerhouses as Gaiam, who can they trust? Where will the deceit end?

Photo by mscaprikell

Headquarters of Gaiam's BPA deceit in Boulder, CO

Headquarters of Gaiam in Boulder, CO

In case you haven’t heard, Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor used in plastics manufacturing. This man made chemical is prevalent in consumer goods including canned food, baby bottles, recycled toilet paper, infant formula, etc. Studies have shown BPA exposure makes little girls more aggressive and hyper and increases risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

In an effort to avoid BPA and detrimental environmental effects of disposable water bottles, consumers have selected stainless steel and aluminum reusable bottles. In order to avoid stainless steel bottles made in China, many people have chosen aluminum bottles; however, aluminum bottles require a liner to prevent the metal from leaching into the water. It is the BPA content of this liner that Sigg and Gaiam have lied to consumers about for many years.
In a groundbreaking example of citizen journalism, the parents at Z Recommends have discovered that Gaiam is an even greater BPA sinner than Sigg. Jeremiah writes:

A week after Z Recommends published an exclusive report that provided extensive evidence that Gaiam water bottles previously marketed as “BPA-free” were likely to contain the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A, the company has quietly added information to its retail website which admits to independent lab test results showing leaching levels at 23.8 parts per billion. These findings are more than ten times the detection limit SIGG said revealed no leaching from their own bottles and over 18 times more than the leaching levels found in independent testing of SIGG bottles shared with ZRecs by an anonymous source.

Gaiam has long been trusted in the green community for its “conscious commerce”:

Gaiam was created as a lifestyle company with the vision that, given a choice, people would choose a lifestyle that is healthy and life enhancing, for themselves, their families and the Earth. The Gaiam lifestyle is a vote for individual health as well as the future sustainability of the Earth’s resources. Gaiam strives to provide customers with alternatives to traditional products by offering natural, eco-friendly or healthy versions that compare with the style, quality and price of conventional products.

Have we been greenwashed all along by Gaiam?