Bottle importer caught out by mixed messages

Mark Ward got an offer he couldn't refuse. In just two shipments, he nearly cleaned out his supplier's entire North American stock of plastic drink bottles.

What sane businessman would turn down 85% off?

About 18 months ago, Mr Ward, owner of Extreme Gear, the largest importer of recreational sports water bottles in New Zealand, bought the remainder of Camelbak brand drink bottles that still contained BPA.

His supplier from the United States, Camelbak, decided to switch over to a new plastic called Triton, which was easier to mould and could handle new designs and colours.

What Camelbak did not make clear is that North American consumers have become concerned about suggestions of health risks attached to BPA and so the environmentally conscious supplier has decided to switch to a new BPA-free plastic.

However, their old stock still needed a new home.

Mr Ward bought 130,000 bottles from the US retailer, later scooping up most of Canada's unwanted BPA stock too, the same bottles he had bought in the past.

The issue of BPA was not yet on Mr Ward's radar.

He had read a little about BPA health risks but nothing was conclusive.

When he realised what he had, he attempted to educate himself.

Should he pull them? Send them back?

He considers himself an environmentalist and felt strongly that reusable lifestyle bottles were better than throwaway ones.

Mr Ward hoped to bring the retail price down for consumers.

He went to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and asked for guidance.

It told him BPA was not banned in New Zealand and that it was not in a position to tell him, as a commercial supplier, what to do.

"NZFSA were adamant that there was no link to cancer.

"They were adamant there was no danger.

"We used that as a yardstick," Mr Ward said.

Finding conflicting reports from scientists and industry studies, he decided to go ahead and sell the bottles here.

Today, having seen the tide turn strongly against BPA in other markets, he is clearly frustrated:

"I don't think we've had clear leadership from our so-called experts in this country.

"I'm disillusioned with the food safety website and look at their mission statement and who they are.

"They are supposed to protect consumers."

Mr Ward is also the distributor for the new BPA-free bottles and said the market in New Zealand buying them up first and fastest was Queenstown, where international tourists had been exposed to this issue.

"They know what they want.

T"hey are informed, educated," he said.

"The hard thing for me is I found it really difficult to find a credible source that tells it like it is.

"Somebody who is willing to stand up and say it is dangerous now."

He is still waiting for that definitive answer.

Would he do it again, knowing what he knows now?

Mr Ward's response: a firm "no".