Is the DuraClear polycarbonate "glassware" sold by Williams-Sonoma BPA-free?
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$2 Answers
Unfortunately, polycarbonate products are grouped with other plastic products by the FDA and so sometimes it is hard to tell from a manufacturing stamp exactly what a product is made from.Unless a hardened clear plastic product says it is specifically "non-BPA polycarbonate" it should at the very least be suspect.
Since neither DuraClear nor Williams-Sonoma state that the product is made from non-BPA material and specifically state that it is a polycarbonate I would conclude that it does contain BPA.
For more on BPA look here:
http://www.bisphenol-a.org/human/polyplastics.html
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Polycarbonate is a hard plastic and will be marked with a 7 in the recycling triangle.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
That's not true. There is a way to make polycarbonate without BPA.
http://walking.about.com/od/prpack/tp/bpafreebottles.htm
I do believe there are polycarbonates that do not use BPA. However they do not share all the properties that make polycarbonates containing BPA a useful consumer product. A good analogy would be a car without an engine. While you can make a car without an engine, it is not very useful to the consumer.
I believe you have misread the statement, which is not surprising because it it vague. It says "Manufacturers of polycarbonate bottles swiftly responded by spring of 2008, producing BPA-free versions." That means they have switched to other types of plastics. For example" Original Camelbak Better Bottles were made of polycarbonate, but now they are made of BPA-free materials." The Camelback and the Nalgene bottle are made from Eastman Tritan TM copolyester which is not polycarbonate see http://www.rei.com/product/776892 and http://www.eastman.com/Brands/Tritan/Introduction/ and "Amphipod water bottles all have the recycling symbol #4 and are BPA-free and phthalate-free" #4 is LDPE not polycarbonate. The other bottles mentioned on the page are metal.
I think we have strayed a bit from the original question, I have no doubt the William-Sonoma polycarbonate "glassware" contains Bisphenol A. Since polycarbonate and BPA are getting so much bad press if it was BPA free William-Sonoma would have said so.
I should note that BPA was not linked to cancer but is considered toxic in large quantities.