I recently heard a disturbing report about plastic bottles leaching chemicals into their contents. What is this about? Is it all plastic bottles? Is it other containers as well?

Gulp. We’re glad you asked.
The controversy seems to be two-fold.
The first concern surrounds a chemical call bisphenol A (BPA) that can leak out of can linings into your food. Cans that hold things like soup, beans and soft drinks . Nearly all can liners contain BPA, says Geoff Cullen, director of government relations at the Can Manufacturers Institute. BPA has also been found to migrate, under some conditions, from polycarbonate plastic water bottles. BPA is also found in clear plastic baby bottles, water bottles and dental sealants.
Here’s where it becomes controversial. The plastics industry says its harmless, but a growing number of scientists are concluding, based on animal testing, that BPA poses a risks if encountered in the womb including certain cancers, interference with reproductive health and increases in childhood behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity. Ninety-five percent of Americans were found to have the chemical in their urine in a 2004 biomonitoring study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The levels that leach into food are well below the safety thresholds set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the plastics industry website, Bisphenol-A.org, says the chemical is completely safe unless you ingest 1,300 pounds of canned and bottled food daily.
The second concern surrounds the re-use of plastic bottles. The assertion is that the plastic used to make plastic bottles, called PET polyethylene terephthalate, contains a potentially carcinogenic chemical called diethylhydroxylamine. According to the reports, this carcinogenic chemical is released upon repeated washings or heating of the bottles.
According to one of our favorite rumor websites, www.snopes.com , this claim is false and here’s why: The FDA regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, and asserts that PET is safe for food contact materials.
The basis for this concern was a graduate students master thesis that was not subject to peer review and did not reflect the serious rigor that would provide accurate and reliable information about the safety of these products. Additionally, DEHA is not regulated or considered a human carcinogen. Furthermore, DEHA is not inherent in PET plastics either is a raw material, byproduct or decomposition product. DEHA is a common plasticizer used in many plastic items including ones found in a lab. The students results were most likely a result of inadvertent lab contamination.