This release on the Nalgene site last Friday:

Quote:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (April 18, 2008) – In response to consumer demand, Nalgene® will phase out production of its Outdoor line of polycarbonate containers that include the chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) over the next several months, it announced today. Nalgene’s existing product mix, including the recently launched Everyday line, already features a number of containers made from materials that do not contain BPA.

“We have always been focused on responding to the needs and concerns of our customers,” said Steven Silverman, general manager of the Nalgene business. “With 10 different product lines in several different materials, we have the largest bottle offering on the market today. By eliminating containers containing BPA from our consumer product mix, our customers can have confidence that their needs are being met.”

That's the bad news. The good news, at least if you're Marijn Dekkers, the CEO of Thermo Fisher, parent of Nalgene, is that although he received compensation of only $3.3 million in 2007 (after receiving $19.8 million in compensation in 2006,) he was able to exercise stock options in 2007 that brought in another $65,000,000.00 to add to his income last year. Dekkers was able to exercise his stock options for as low as $19.67 apiece and then sold shares the same day for prices as high as $57.14.

Nalgene outdoor and its sports water bottles are just a small division of Thermo Fisher Scientific. The stock has been hanging around $56 before and after the announcement, and the ending of production of Nalgene's bisphenol-A bottles didn't earn a mention in current news on the corporate parent's site.

Interesting that Nalgene/Thermo Fisher announced this prior to the Canadian ban. (Nine US states are considering a similar ban.) Wonder when all the knock-off makers of Nalgene-type bottles will follow suit? How long will bisphenol-A bottles be on our shelves? And, since I'm a little confused, please tell me again how we know we're drinking from a bisphenol-A bottle right now?