Are You Drinking Water from a Plastic Bottle? Do You Know the Risks?

The title is deceiving. If one drinks water from a plastic bottle, it is usually disposed of, not used again. Or am I missing something here?

Would appreciate the author's response.

Ive been addicted to canned soda's for my entire life. Perhaps bpa has a narcotic effect on the brain. Soda cans in the summer months, left unshaded in seni-trailors. Heat enough to release the chemical? Im sure it gets a good 120 degrees in them, even on a modest summer day in direct sunlight. Well id like answers as much as anyone else. Worse than aspartame and caffeine?

Nothin' beats a glass of plastic enamel in the morning.

Of all the fears we have to face lets put plastic in it's place., from 1 to 10 it's a sin be extremely careful at the recycle bin......

Well another crisis in the food chain. What about all the plaxtic(synthetic) fabrics we are wearing...any leaching going on there?( I am a heavy sweater) How about if I store my uneatean pizza in a plastic container and take it to work the next day for lunch? How about if I drink coffee out of a plastic styrofoam cup every morning. Gee! lets make everything a crisis and shut down progress. I sure hope these so called experts are getting paid welll for all the BS they thrive on spewing into the mainstream. It's also a hoot to watch their BS and hyperboil leach into the minds of the sky is always falling crowd.

http://www.jhsph.edu/PublicHealthNews/articles/Halden_dioxins.html

From the original post: "A wealth of medical research has revealed that a chemical used to make hard, clear plastics called bisphenol A (BPA), such as those found in baby bottles, food-storage containers and the lining of soda cans, has reached epidemic proportions in America." As should be observed carefully, this post is regarding hard plastics, not soft plastics used for drinking-water bottles, nor is the article in regard to dioxins. Perhaps more independant, documented and re-duplicated research should be conducted to satisfy individuals who are more skeptical. As with all things, one must make one's health-related decisions carefully.

The bottles that are the real problem here are the nalgene bottles that hikers and campers use. Plus baby bottles as the article says. Basically any hard, clear plastic.

In 1974 my mother and father were staying at a house near Stanford hospital in California; my dad was getting odd treatments for cancer. The man who lived at the house was a NASA physicist; he also was a friend of one Linus Pauling. Reportedly he did a study of hot acid coffee in Styrofoam cups. He found that chemicals used to form the cup leached out into the coffee. Not Good.

One of my unusual encounters with plastic occurred once when I was eating lemon yogurt with a polystyrene white plastic spoon. I began smelling some unusual odor and it turned out that the acids in the yogurt were melting the spoon in my hand. I decided to stop eating the yogurt. (lactic acid and citric acid combination)

This is a HOAX!!!!!

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/toxins.asp

Get a grip people.

I don't use plastic to drink, have a distiller and fill glass bottles, jars etc. don't like to microwave and especially not in plastic containers. If you look around the price of all the great "progress" is diabetes, cancer, cardio-vascular degeneration, ms, etc, etc, etc. Prove to me and the rest of the world that the chemicals do not cause any problems at all, then we'll talk. If I was leader, for even a day, I would ban a huge amount of chemicals (even for any use) and would print the country's own money and remove pharmaceutical plants and destroy the AMA and BAR association and hunt down and kill all hard drug dealers (the real terrorists) and replace AMA doctors with naturopaths and homeopathic practitioners and educate the public on proper nutrition. Why do we have to take all the crap that the money mongers shove at us...

With respect to Mr. Bill...

Just because Snopes lists something as being or not being a hoax does not make it true. One must always consider the source or sources such information is gleaned from. For instance, the very first entry on the list. It claims the statement in which Aspertame is claimed to be a carcinogen and the cause of [insert malady here] is False. In that case, Snopes is wrong. Read this:

http://www.wnho.net/the_ecologist_aspartame_report.htm

Again, the primary post is in regard to hard plastics and chemicals used in their manufacture which are different from the ones being referenced by those articles or individuals supporting or opposing the "soft-plastic water-bottle" theory(ies).

Again, I post this, showing respect for the individuals reading the post(s) and commenting. I simply want people to check their source(s) thoroughly before claiming something is absolutely true or an absolute hoax, for their own benefit more than others'.

Anyone saying this is a hoax is either very stupid, uninformed or working for the plastics industry.
This is a very serious issue and the future generations of humanity are surely to suffer if this allowed to continue.

Class Action Suit

Who ever takes on the task to represent Americans in a "Class Action Suit" against the plastics industry is going go become a very wealthy attorney.

You should keep the yogurt, dummy, and use a silver or steel spoon. IT AIN'T THE YOGURT, IT'S THE SPOON!

A lot of plastics mimic estrogen which for men LOWERS sperm counts. Along with the dummying effects of flouride , it is a plot to weaken American males so that the eventual martial law showdown can be over sooner.

If your yogurt contains aspartame, throw it in the garbage with your plastic spoon and never buy that shit again...

Aspartame is a poison, Snopes only said it hasn't been proved to cause cancer. Can you people not read or comprehend english? How long have we been drinking from plastic containers? 20 years? 30 years? Come on, there are certainly more important issues than some bull about drinking from a plastic bottle. How many people have been proved to have died, or even gottne sick, from drinking from a plastic bottle? How come this is an issue now? Am I to believe that the plastics industry is in collusion to keep this information from us for three decades? Get real, I am more worried about our idiot president, the economy, gas prices, the coming police state, taxes, lying, thieving politicians at every level of government than I am about drinking some liquid from a plastic container.

To Pete:

Quote: "If your yogurt contains aspartame, throw it in the garbage with your plastic spoon and never buy that shit again..."

Yeah, Pete. . . but how are we supposed to know if aspartame is one of the ingredjamunts? I mean, no food manufacturer lists aspartame; it's much too controversial. They're a bunch of vermin, these faktory people. . . who conceal the shame within other, less-ominous sounding concoctions.

So, how do we know?

What do you suggest we do? Can water be tested for BPA at home ? How can I get rid of estrogens in my body?

I dont want to become androgenous!!!!

There is also asbestos in many bottled water products and you know what it does.

Great. A new thing to be afraid. Sigh...I guess I'll finally buy that Burkee filter....

Much of these types of toxins and psuedoestrogens work very slowly or cause subtle effects.
Often they cause people to rant and exude vitriolic tirades.
Corporations don't care if they poison you, if it makes money and they can get away with it.
Which of these food container materials are of real concern is very difficult to asses.
Best to drink out of glass or ceramic. Cook with enamel ware. Don't microwave.
Eat natural organic, what your ancestors ate. There is so much toxic estrogens, pesticides and chemical additives in industrial fast food, no one knows what it does individually.
Of course we do have epidemics of cancer and obesity.
Love what you eat.

The link you posted is also a hoax as well. Aspartame is a dangerous chemical, it's a excitotoxin. Just like MSG, the chemical is applied to food to make it "better" tasting. And it's the main reason why there's obesity everwhere in America. You think food companies give a shit about what their food does to you? They care more about how much money you have to give.

Has anybody mentioned what happens when plastic containers are put into microwave ovens?

for years i have frozen 16oz Ozarka water bottles and enjoyed the results in blazing TX weather. recently read freezing clear plastic allows the chemicles to leach into the water? check it out.

Mike:
"Great. A new thing to be afraid. Sigh...I guess I'll finally buy that Burkee filter...."

Exactly what i said to myself when i saw this... Everyone: go out and buy burkees! (and no i'm not being paid to say that, it really is the best thing we can do)

and to the moron who said this is a scam and bottled water has done nothing to our health in the past 30 years so why should we worry... open your eyes man, cancer is exploding, all kinds of use-to-be rare diseases are now common, diseases elderly peopel used to have kids are getting, the number 3 cause of death is repiratory illness (everyone has chronic bronchitis and asthma) sperm counts are down, infertillity all around for men and women in america is skyrocketting, and beleieve me, if any part of this is being caused by the plastics industry, they arent going to advertise it for you, so have a big glass of aspartame diet coke and wake up already!

I know too many people who have had breast and prostate cancer. I dont know why, but it probably has to do with stuff in our environment and what we consume. I know like five people right now sufferin from this disease. It looks like a problem to me.

My husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes 2. In disbelief, because he has no symptoms (yet) we began to do research online. To our surprise, we found symptoms listed on various websites that are surprisingly like the symptoms of dioxin and PCB poisoning -- which I know well, since a research project on the effects of plastic byproducts that I did several years ago.

If you care to look, researchers in Britain have made the connection and are documenting their proof. Needless to say: We no longer use any plastics around our food.

The subject of this article is bisphenol-a (bpa), not dioxin. Bisphenol-A is the basic constituent of polycarbonate plastic (lucite). It is also behaves as an estrogen in the body. None of this is subject to scientific debate. BPA was actually first discovered by biochemists working to create synthetic estrogens.

To the extent there is any debate, it is whether the levels at which BPA leaches into food are significant. The plastics industry says that leaching is so small that it is not significant, and they cite the EPA standard from 1984. Others reference a growing body of scientific literature (between 50 and 100 studies published in peer reviewed journals) showing significant health effects of BPA in concentrations lower than the EPA threshold.

For more on BPA, see the wikipedia entry and bisphenol-a free dot org.

Virtually all consumer plastic water bottles are made from PET plastic. There is no bisphenol-A content at all in PET.

However those five gallon plastic jugs in the office water cooler likely are made from polycarbonate, which does contain bisphenol-A.

The focus in on plastic as a carrier of bisphenol-A, but the interior coating in soft drink and beer cans is an epoxy material that contains bisphenol-A.

All plastics are not the same. "Plastic" is a term for a class of materials, just like "beverage" is a term for a class of drinks. There are a great variety of beverage types and compositions, the same with plastics.

What about plastic wrapping for food... Glad Wrap we call it in NZ. One of our well known Supermarkets stopped using the wrap for Cooked Chicken... claiming it to be unsafe and Cancer causing. They still wrap the chicken in Glad Wrap.. now claiming... it to be safer Cellophane wrapping. Pollystyrine boxes were also replaced by paper boxes at one of our Burger places. On both counts, the food was hot when placed in plastic. I would believe the plastic is toxic. especially when heated, along with frying food in teflon pans.... That, has been known to kill birds in cages exposed to the fumes from cooking. Go to ( http://www.JeffRense.com ) folks....it is not only plastic we should be wary of.

Sweat is a sign of a high level of toxicity in the body which is trying to cleans itself. If you're a heavy sweater you may want to change a few of your habits (eating and drinking). The North American Union is step 2 of 3 steps which will bring in the New World Order and it's happening NOW. Help stop the North American Union before our country is lost. Ignore it and get what you deserve.

I was shocked to find out I have breast Cancer, on July the 12th 2007.... I have been drinking water out of plastic bottles for 18 years or more.... I have a (estrogen) producing cancer....could this be the culprit ? I wonder...breast cancer does not run in my family...my Mom has 5 sister's my Dad 3...&, none of them have ever had breast Cancer...so, I say it's the food chain/envorment...PERIOD. Get back anyone out there with more info, Thank you, Sharon Fort Lauderdale Fl.

My father just turned 89 on January 10th 2008.
1 week later he is diagnosed with bladder cancer. What I am looking for, is a chain of events that could possible happen through a chemists'
standpoint that can match up with the chain of events that actually happened on a time line to see the similarities and time intervals, and how they coincide.
As far back as I can remember, my father drank out of a thermos brand
hard plastic cup (from the sixties, olive green on the bottom and white with speckles on top) after drinking coffee,with cream he'd rinse it out
with only water, and set it in the same place every day until next use.
This went on every day for years. Until the eighties when he started using an orange casino footed plastic cup from Vegas .
Then, in 1993 he was operated on for removal of his gallbladder, still has this cup. Appetite waned, and he started drinking his coffee black
(I know milk has acid, but would it not in this case keep the coffee acids
from corroding the cup more in this case?), now, during all this my mother (83) is still cooking out of her trusty Teflon, and old aluminum
cookware, and an enamel pot that is chipping and I can see the gray coming off inside, (white pot with some kind of orange floral design).
Does anyone with clout know if this is related? My father smoked 4 packs a day of unfiltered cigarettes for years, and quit even before the coffee cup thing. also, five years ago he developed the widow maker
and nothing else in the cardio thoracic area, that could have been brought about by past years of smoking (there were no chemicals in the tobacco then) but, could you also get the widow maker by the chemical release by some chance?
He is now getting radiation treatment, however was diagnosed with two more months to live prior to the treatments were discussed with the oncologist, but drinking from the same cup, and eating my mothers cuisine......... i cannot or dare say anything, they will call it denial of his inevitable death to come, or stupidity. My younger sis is an ultrasound tech at the hospital, and her way to remedy things is to get them to her doctor(boss) for meds, I'm ticked, I have a family of six here and even tho we have our dilemmas, I have work it out with natural supplements and changed our eating habits long ago, I am in college on line for a degree in health and nutrition, if (probably am) I am correct, I want to save what natural life for my dad is left and help him to enjoy it, is there room for hope?

all this has been debunked as hoax. its the green think tanks trying to scare folks in to going green and so on.

The poster whose 89 year old father was diagnosed with bladder cancer was looking for explanations. A little bit of googling would have told you that your father's smoking habit is the most likely culprit:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_What_are_the_risk_factors_for_bladder_cancer_44.asp

Just curious - did he happen to move from a country environment to a Town or City environment before this ordeal began?

Just a thought because CHLORINE in Town and City water (although needed as part of the purification process) needs to be removed because of it's devestating and proven negative effects on our bodies.

Yes the bottles are reused if you are using a delivery service like Ozarka, Sparkletts, etc, since the empty 3-5 gallon bottles are picked up upon delivery of the full bottles. The problem is not reuse, it is the process by which they manufacture the hard plastic that leaks BPAs to the water. It is a chemical issue with hard plastic.

Wow I really enjoyed reading what you would do , I wish that could happen, oh what a great life it would be, and great for future generations ? Bless you, wish you well