TACSPEC® recommends these transparent cylindrical canteens with capacity markings. With standard opaque US military canteens, you can't see how much water is left, you can't check visually for contaminants, and they don't fit comfortably in pockets. Those old-school metallic designs are even worse -- they rust, make noise while moving and weigh too much.

These unbreakable bottles do not give your water a plastic taste and are completely odorless.

While people may think they're doing a good deed for the environment when they reuse water bottles for anything from orange juice in a bagged lunch to a week's worth of water refills from the office water cooler, researchers say they could be risking their health.

Dangerous bacteria and potentially toxic plastic compounds have been found in the types of water bottles typically reused in classrooms and workplaces countrywide. A study of water bottles at a Calgary elementary school found bacteria in kids' bottles that would prompt health officials to issue boil-water advisories, had the samples come from a tap. Researchers discovered bacterial contamination in about a third of the samples collected from kids' water bottles at the school. Some samples even showed evidence of fecal coliforms. Cathy Ryan, the University of Calgary professor who authored the study, was quoted as saying, "If a town water supply had fecal coliforms in it, it would have to be shut down."

The bacteria likely came from the kids' hands and mouths over time as they repeatedly used the same bottles without washing them or allowing them to dry, Ryan said. The story says that when the study results were published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in the fall, the local school board advised parents to make sure kids' bottles were taken home and washed properly and frequently. And a study conducted in the United States suggests the kind of thorough washing that could kill bacteria might make the bottles unsafe in another way. Frequent washing might accelerate the break-down of the plastic, potentially causing chemicals to leach into the water, the study found. Preliminary research conducted by a graduate student at the University of Idaho found that with repeated use, toxic chemical compounds can migrate out of the bottles into the liquid inside.

Although plastics experts contend the bottles are safe, the study ultimately concluded little is known about what happens when the bottles are used over and over again. Margrit von Braun, a University of Idaho professor, was quoted as saying, "The fact is, a lot of these compounds have not really been studied in terms of their human health effects." The story says that single-use soft-drink and water bottles are commonly made of a plastic called polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which, while considered safe for its intended use, was found to break down over time. "The longer you used it, the more stuff ended up in the water," said von Braun. One of the toxins that frequently appeared in water samples from the reused bottles was DEHA, a carcinogen regulated in drinking water because it has been found to cause weight loss, liver problems, or possible reproductive difficulties. It is also suspected that DEHA can cause cancer in humans. Von Braun said she was surprised to discover how widespread the reuse was - and how long some people would hold on to a single bottle. "A lot of people use them for weeks, and sometimes months, literally until it's leaking," said von Braun. The Canadian Bottled Water Association advises against reusing the containers altogether. It says the containers are made for single use and should be recycled afterward, not reused.

Keep one ready in your medikit and 2 or more in your back-pack.

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