| You may not know for 20 years if your plastic water | | | | toxic material used in making PET, begins leaching into |
| bottle is poisoning you. | | | | the water immediately. So the longer it sits in storage, |
| Right now the FDA says only that it will keep | | | | the more toxic it becomes. High concentrations of |
| monitoring data to see if the agency needs to take | | | | antimony can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. In |
| regulatory action. It could be 20 or 30 years before | | | | the study, levels were found to be "safe" by EPA |
| they truly know the effects on the human body from | | | | standards, but they admit that there have been no long |
| the toxins leached from plastic water bottles. | | | | term studies to determine if "safe" levels are really |
| For now no serious action is being taken regarding the | | | | safe. |
| very serious health hazards presented by plastic | | | | Then, the next year, a National Institutes of Health |
| water bottles, plastic food storage containers, and | | | | committee found that bisphenol A (BPA) may cause |
| more. | | | | neurological and behavioral problems in fetuses, babies, |
| Here's why your plastic water bottle may be unsafe: | | | | and young children. A separate study found that adult |
| Most bottled water comes in polyethylene | | | | exposure to BPA likely affects the brain, the female |
| terephthalate bottles, indicated by a number 1, PET, or | | | | reproductive system, and the immune system. BPA is |
| PETE on the bottle's bottom. While some scientists | | | | a chemical found in polycarbonate, which is used to |
| believe that these bottles are generally safe at room | | | | make water cooler jugs, sport-water bottles, and other |
| temperature, when they are stored at warm | | | | hard plastics. |
| temperatures, the story changes. | | | | Some plastics used for water bottles, along with some |
| When the bottles are warmed, they begin to quickly | | | | cosmetics and fragrances, shower curtains, and even |
| leach chemicals into the water. It doesn't matter if the | | | | baby toys, contain Phthalates. |
| bottles are still sealed, of it it's the bottle you're carrying | | | | Phthalates are under increasing scrutiny because they |
| with you and drinking from throughout the day. | | | | are endocrine disrupters. That means they block or |
| Scientists agree that the bottle left in the hot car all | | | | mimic hormones and affect the body's normal |
| day is dangerous - but how warm is too warm? And | | | | functions. The effects of exposure to these chemicals |
| how warm were those bottles during shipment? How | | | | may add up - and studies are showing that when |
| warm were they when they sat in a warehouse prior | | | | fetuses are exposed to high levels during critical |
| to shipment? You have no way to know. | | | | developmental periods, the results can be devastating. |
| According to Ken Smith, PhD and past chair of the | | | | What about juices, milk, and soft drinks? |
| American Chemical Society's division of environmental | | | | So far, I have not seen any studies or heard an outcry. |
| chemistry, "Leaving bottled water out in the car | | | | But it stands to reason that if chemicals leach into your |
| changes the chemical equilibrium so that the materials | | | | water from plastic containers, those plastics would |
| from the plastic go into the water faster." | | | | also leach into any other beverage they hold. |
| Note that he didn't say heat causes chemicals to go | | | | Many experts are now recommending throwing away |
| into the water, but that it causes them to go into the | | | | your plastic water bottles - and also ceasing to use |
| water faster. That would indicate that even if your | | | | plastics in your home for food storage. They |
| bottled water has been refrigerated from the day it | | | | recommend buying juices in metal or glass containers, |
| was bottled, chemicals are leaching into it. | | | | or at the very least, transferring them to glass |
| In 2006 scientists in Germany found that antimony, a | | | | containers as soon as you get them home. |