Aerobie Aeropress .. safe

[stevea]

I was curious about whether the Aeropress might be made of polycarbonate which might contain polycarbonate which might contain bisphenols.   Aeropress answered ....

Dear Steve,

I was reviewing some old emails and noticed yours which I think I failed to answer.  My apologies.  You asked about the materials used in the manufacture of our AeroPress coffee maker.  The clear components are made of copolyester.  The hard black parts are made of polypropylene.  The rubber seal is made of the thermoplastic elastomer.  The filters are made of exactly the same filter paper that is used in cone filters.

I hope this is helpful.

Best regards,
Alex Tennant
Aerobie, Inc.

[peter]

Oh no!  Copolyesters!  Those are as bad as BPA's!   

[mp]

Yeah ... information always seems to come out after the fact on the dangers of plastic.  I would stick to glass as much as possible.

My 2 cents.

 

[peter]

There was a story in the national news earlier this week that BPA's are now not considered to be dangerous.

[stevea]

Well - more info.

Alex Tennant wrote:
> Steve,
>
> In the interest of being thorough, my answer to you is correct and applies to all AeroPress coffee makers manufactured since August 1st.  I should add that we were completely out of stock at that point so it also applies to all AeroPress coffee makers that we shipped to retailers after August 1st.  Prior to that, the clear parts of the AeroPress were made of a very special grade of high temperature and humidity resistant polycarbonate.  We had a well used polycarbonate AeroPress tested by an independent lab to measure how much, if any, BPA leached into the coffee during the brewing process.  They were completely unable to detect any BPA.  A second part of the test procedure was to spike the coffee with 2.0 parts per billion of BPA and then repeat the measurement.  This time they measured 2.0 ppb, not even 2.1 ppb.  So to summarize, prior to August 1st the clear parts of the AeroPress were made of a special grade of polycarbonate which did not leach BPA into the coffee during the brewing process and since August 1st we have been making and shipping AeroPress coffee makers made out of totally BPA free materials.  There was really no reason for us to make the change but we made it anyway to eliminate any perceived risk.
>
> This was probably more than you wanted on the subject.  Thanks for your interest.
>
> Best regards,
> Alex Tennant
> Aerobie, Inc.


Peter - you'd better go check your sources.   There are no new contrary publications on Bisphenols.

I am not about to get panicky over the issue, but bisphenols leach from polycarbonates especially
at high temps, so a polycarbonate+BPA coffee maker is a bad idea.   BPAs are likely to be tertogenic
- already banned in Japan, Canada and Europe  The FDA has their heads so far up their ... they can't
even keep alamine contaminated food and lead painted toys from China off the shelves.  I would
not use a BPA+polycarbonate for food/water/coffee for a pregnant woman or infant at all - period.

For an old geek like me, it's something I can afford to replace as the opportunity presents itself.
I've probably been chowing down on BPA since I was a toddler - which doesn't mean it won't get
me in the end.   Don't be so head-in-the-sand.