Dont buy drinking water containers unless they are made of glass or carry a tag that says, BPA free. You may have realized that the taste is better when you use a glass drinking water container, but you know that for sports, glass is impractical.   So, you buy plastic or polycarbonate drinking water containers and hopefully you fill them with filtered-water from your tap. But, if the label on your drinking water container does not say BPA free, then you are risking your future health.   In the 1930s, when they began using BPA (Bisphenol-A) to make plastics, they were concerned that the substance might be hazardous. But, as with many hazardous chemicals, the benefits outweighed the risks, at least at the time.   Now, technology has advanced to the point that there are safer alternatives, but change is always difficult.   Many major companies, particularly in the United States thrush treatment , oppose the proposed ban of the chemical, so it is still common to see a drinking water container that is made with it.   Well have to just wait and see what happens on that front.   But, in the meantime, at least one company (NALGENE) that makes sports drinking water containers has stopped using the chemical.   You see, over the last 5 years, numerous studies of the effects of BPA have been completed using laboratory rats.   I know you may have problems with the idea of animal testing, but the only way to determine the long-term toxicity of a substance is to use them.   A single exposure will do not damage to a human being or an animal. It is repeated exposure that is a problem. The chemical can build up in bodily organs cells and tissues. Thats why you want a glass or BPA free drinking water container.   Within the human body, BPA acts like the hormone estrogen.