It’s Not Easy Being Green

The cloth diapering world was recently hit with the scandal that the “organic bamboo velour” (and fleece, and terry, and jersey) that has been touted to hell and back as being eco-friendly, naturally anti-microbial and anti-fungal, and an all-around miracle fabric is, in fact, rayon. Oops.

Say it again. Rayon. It just smacks of the seventies, of polyester and nylon and leisure suits and ruffled blouses. Those in the know threw a huge inventory-melting sale (of never before heard of proportions) a few days after the [FTC announcement](http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/08/bamboo.shtm) (and prior to the news hitting the mainstream ‘net). [GoodMama](http://goodmama.typepad.com/goodmama/2009/08/its-my-birthday-lets-have-a-sale.html)? Good timing.

This recent clarification by the FTC explains quite a bit. OBV diapers were prone to feeling lush and fluffy at first and then taking on a “sherpa” texture with use and wear. In the cloth diapering world, however, OBV was the epitome of fluffy fabrics; hard on the pocketbook, but totally worth it for the knowledge that your baby’s bottom had green stamp of approval.

A week later, SIGG announced that yes, indeed, its [proprietary bottle liner used to have BPA in it](http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/mamadrama/entries/2009/08/24/ceo_sigg_bottles_contained_bpa.html). Those who ran out and exchanged their Nalgene bottles for the more expensive SIGG alternative, loudly proclaiming that they were BPA-free, were not reading [the fine print](http://mysigg.com/bulletin/). “SIGG’s special, proprietary internal coating” was promised to not _leach_ BPA, not to be BPA-free. Oops, again.

SIGG was repeatedly asked whether their bottles were BPA-free; they refused to say “no”. Small surprise, that–while [Nalgene took the heat](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/nalgene-dumps-bpa.php) for being made of #7 plastic and leaching BPA–SIGG made out like bandits as worried consumers rushed to replace their water bottles, to the point of a worldwide [shortage](http://mothershipmeals.blogspot.com/2008/06/sigg-shortage.html). [Statements from SIGG over the years](http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/siggs-bpa-confession-you-arent-going-to-like-it-any-more-than-we-do/) have been more slippery than a greased piggie.

> On March 9th, it was brought to my attention that a website sponsored by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) made mention that SIGG bottles contain plastic liners with bisphenol A (BPA).
>
>I can assure you that SIGG bottles are absolutely not made with a plastic liner and are in fact lined with a proprietary non-toxic, water-based resin which has been refined over decades of study and is extremely safe & stable.
>
> [Letter from Steve Wasik, President, SIGG USA, 12 March 2007](http://ecochildsplay.blogspot.com/2007/03/sigg-update.html)

Oh my.

### Further reading ###

1. [Bamboozled? Bamboo Fabric Far From Eco-Friendly, Says FTC](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/bamboo-ftc.php)
2. [And the cloth world comes to a halt…over Bamboo?](http://www.pooponcloth.com/?p=800)
3. [SIGG Bottles Now BPA Free. But What Were They Before?](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/sigg-bottles-now-bpa-free.php)
4. [Water Bottles Marketed To BPA-Fearing Parents Contained BPA All Along](http://consumerist.com/5343818/water-bottles-marketed-to-bpa+fearing-parents-contained-bpa-all-along)
5. [SIGG Shortage](http://obsidianpotency.blog-city.com/sigg_shortage.htm)