BPA - health danger from water tank of espresso machines? - Page 2

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Lyvyoo (original poster)
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#11: Post by Lyvyoo (original poster) »

I sent Monday an email to Bezzeza Italy, but still no reply. For a normal technical question, they reply in one/two days. I supose that this is a hard question for the marketing department :)

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JohnB.
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#12: Post by JohnB. »

Unlike most plastic products sold in this country the Strega water reservoir has no markings to determine what it is made of. I would have thought that this was mandatory especially for containers designed to hold drinking water.
LMWDP 267

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rpavlis
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#13: Post by rpavlis »

For your information:

A very large portion of the phenol used in the world today is made by reacting benzene and propene, both available in large quantity from gasoline manufacturing. This produces isopropyl benzene which can be air oxidised to a peroxide that degrades on acid addition into a mixture of phenol and acetone. Bisphenol-A is made from phenol and acetone directly, acetone is what the "A" stands for in the name. This makes bisphenol-A be a relatively inexpensive raw material. Reacting it with phosgene leads to the polymer, bisphenol-A carbonate.

This polymer is relatively UV stable, clear, very hard, and, for a polymer scratch resistant. It also has quite high impact resistance. It is commonly used for such applications as motorcycle windshields where it is practically the ideal material.

Its impact resistance led to its being used for containers that contacted liquid food. Although bisphenol-A carbonate is rather chemically stable it slowly reacts with water, and hydrolyses producing carbon dioxide and free bisphenol-A. It has strong oestrogenic activity, so even though the amount produced is slight, it is still cause for serious concern, especially if the water it contacts be hot, alkaline, or acidic.

Lyvyoo (original poster)
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#14: Post by Lyvyoo (original poster) »

I recived the reply from Bezzera Italy (Mr. Luca Bezzera):

"the water tank we use is made of Moplen material and it is Bisphenol A Free"

So, good news!

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rpavlis
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#15: Post by rpavlis »

Moplen is a trade name for a polypropylene polymer. Polymers of this sort are very commonly used because they are inert. It should be a very safe material for these applications.

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