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Dr.McCoy
345
Oct 25, 2017
Well after 2 hours of replying to comments and extolling the virtues of the Aeropress I was about to advise a user to exchange his BPA-laden original Aeropress with a newer (polypropylene) one when I accidentally found this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222987/
Important excerpts:
" Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled—independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source—leached chemicals having reliably detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than did BPA-containing products. "
"This leaching of monomers and additives from a plastic item into its contents is often accelerated if the product is exposed to common-use stresses such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight, microwave radiation, and/or moist heat via boiling or dishwashing. "
" We used the following stresses:
  • Samples were placed about 2 feet from a 254-nm fluorescent fixture for 24 hr, simulating repeated UV stress by sunlight (e.g., water bottles) or UV sterilizers (e.g., baby bottles and medical items)
  • Samples were autoclaved at 134°C for 8 min, simulating moist heat stress in an automatic dishwasher
  • We heated samples in a microwave 10 times for 2 min each, using a 1,000-W kitchen microwave oven set to “high,” simulating heat and microwave radiation stress to reusable food containers"

" Most (71%) unstressed plastic items released chemicals with reliably detectable EA in one or more extraction protocols, independent of resin type, product type, or retailer (Table 1)." [emphasis mine]
Also, Canada has already banned microbeads, which are frequently polypropylene, due to environmental toxicity (and physical waste). I don't think there's a ban on it in other products yet.
Thoughts on the safety of the current Aeropress? I mean (I hope) we're not microwaving it, or putting it in the dishwasher, but those stress tests are markedly similar to brewing coffee.
SidEvolution
25
Oct 25, 2017
Dr.McCoyDefinitely a good find. Something to note is the article publish date: 2011 You might have found this throughout your research but to not deter any others out there, I'll leave this here: https://aeropressinc.com/materials-used-in-theaeropress-coffee-maker/
The latest version of the aeropress was release in 2014. They go into a little bit of depth about their choices in material and testing process.
But just like you said, please don't microwave your aeropress, put it in the dishwasher, etc.
teesui
5
Oct 25, 2017
Dr.McCoyInteresting to know that BPA-free is still not good for you. BTW, the major reason Canada banned microbeads was because they're too small to be filtered out before being discharged out. They happened to find out that a lot of these beads were ending up in the fish's stomach and killing fishes.
I guess all these negative effects of plastic has me looking at ceramic/glass pourover devices or looking into french press.
Dr.McCoy
345
Oct 25, 2017
SidEvolutionOh yeah I thought I'd included that link at the bottom - thanks for posting it!
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