Toxic Plastic Water Bottles


I recently received a question from one of my readers about the safety of drinking water from clear plastic water bottles. These bottles, made from Lexan polycarbonate resin (a plastic polymer), are widely used for single-serving sales to one-gallon of water in stores and home-delivery bottles.

Theee bottles appear to be safe because they do not impart any taste or odor to the water. Lexan polycarbonate is also used to make compact discs and DVDs, bulletproof windows, mobile phones, and computers.

The water delivery company sent my reader a notice saying that their Lexan polycarbonate bottles are perfectly safe to use. They suggested their customers visit a website that was designed to portray this plastic in a positive light.

But, actually, a toxic chemical is lurking in these bottles that does end up in the water you drink. Lexan used to be used to make baby bottles, but these are no longer sold. Hmmmmm...

STAY AWAY FROM BPA

In 1998, Dr. Patricia Hunt of Case Western University in Ohio discovered that one of the components of Lexan polycarbonate resin--bisphenol-A (BPA)--can leach into water from water bottles. BPA is a potent hormone disruptor. It can impair the reproductive organs and have adverse effects on breast tissue and prostate development.

Who do we believe? The water delivery company or Dr. Hunt?

I'm inclined to go with Dr. Hunt. I went to a website maintained by the authors of Our Stolen Future: How We Are Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival, who are continuously searching the scientific literature for information on endochrine disruptors. The Our Stolen Future (http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/bisppage on bisphenol-a henola/bpauses.htm#recentimportant) gives a whole page of links to scientific studies that show that BPA damages the endocrine system in a variety of ways.

BPA can leach from water bottles when exposed to heat and cleaning agents, but detectable levels of BPA can also leach into water from bottles just sitting at room temperature, according to a 2003 study conducted by the University of Missouri published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

Is there is a level of BPA that may be acceptable? To answer that question we have to ask: acceptable to who? A healthy male? A woman? A child? The elderly? And how would you know how much leaching has occurred in the water? It could easily vary from day to day depending on how long the water had been in the bottle, whether or not the sun was shining on the bottle in the delivery truck, and a variety of other factors.

I'm concerned enough about the possible danger of BPA that I am no longer purchasing bottled water in plastic bottles.

Health concerns aside, plastic is also not good for the environment. Americans use about 10 million tons of plastic every year, but recycle only about two percent of it. A plastic milk jug takes about one million years to biodegrade. And, getting back to health concerns, the manufacture of plastics produces toxic wastes that return to us indirectly through polluted air, water, and soil.

But we also have to use common sense and choose the greatest benefit at any given time. If your choice was to drink spring water in the polycarbonate bottle or drink tap water or drink no water at all on a hot summer day, I would say drink the purer spring water in the polycarbonate bottle. Once in a while, a single exposure will not do much harm. But you don't want to be using water contained in a Lexan polycarbonate resin bottle as your everyday source of water supply, or drink from these bottles all day long, every day.

There are other options.

BETTER OPTIONS

My best recommendation is to get a good water filter that is right for your water and filter your water at home. That way there is no questionable leaching at all. Even though this may be expensive, it is one of the best investments you can make in your health and will save thousands of dollars in medical expenses in the long run.

For those of you who carry or purchase water in the small, single-serving Lexan polycarbonate bottles, you can purchase plastic-free refillable bottles in various sizes to suit your needs. They are lightweight and much more attractive than the disposable plastic bottles.

It's a good idea, particularly in the summertime, to carry clean water with you, as your body needs water throughout the day for good health. The Mayo Clinic suggests you divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces of water every day. So if you weigh 128 pounds, that would be 64 ounces or 8 8-ounce glasses of water per day. It's better to carry your own clean water in a safe container than drink tap water or water in a plastic bottle.


More Resources

Hypnosis Cures For Nail Biting
One little-thought-of application for hypnosis is to help people stop their nail biting habit. While this may not be on par with splitting the atom, it is a serious problem for people who always seem to find themselves gnawing their nails.
Get Your ZZZZZZ's Naturally
Insomnia - according to the dictionary is a chronic inability to fall asleep or remain asleep for an adequate length of time. We've all experienced this at least sometime in our lives.
Medical Alert Jewelry: A Life Saving Fashion Statement
No one really wants to be labeled as "different." And certainly, no one wants to create that label and apply it to him or herself.
Health Benefits of Green Tea
For over 3000 years, the Chinese have been using green tea to treat all sorts of ailments, such as headaches and gastronomic problems. With a growing number of scientific data, there is no doubt that green tea is as essential for maintaining good health.
The History of Reflexology
It is important to be aware of the great archetypal history manifested by the practitioners which dates back over 6,000 years.Our study of the ancient Egyptian doctors starts 4,500 years ago.
Everything Old Is New Again: Rebuilding Your Vision
Glasses, contacts, or surgery. These are the usual choices offered to those of us with bad vision.
Ethical Guidelines For Hypnotherapy
The study of ethics concerns moral choices, generally in the areas of relationships, agreements between parties, intentions, and possible outcomes. In practice this starts as the observation of the moral choices people make and the reasons given for these choices.
The Benefits of Swedish Massage
Swedish massage is the most common form of relaxation massage offering many relaxing as well as healing properties to your body. Swedish massage combines the use of long strokes, kneading and friction techniques to manipulate the soft tissues of the body causing a variety of benefits to your body to help it to heal itself.
Reduce the Effects of Fears and Phobias with Hypnosis
Hypnosis is very useful in the treatment of fears and phobias. Hypnosis is perfectly natural and allows you to experience deep physical and mental relaxation.
Bladder Infections
"If you let that fiery wise blood just sit there in your belly, great granddaughter," admonishes Grandmother Growth, "you'll get the urge to quench that heat. You'll get a tickle, a twinge, an urgent call.
How to Sense Low Levels of Asbestos in Your Daily Environment. (Part II)
Most people find it difficult to believe that a tiny dust material, too small to see, can cause such havoc with the human body. As a construction worker, I may have an advantage in identifying the materials which shed this residue, but this also tends to make me more vulnerable to it's effects.
Cleansing Liver Herbal Teas
When spring comes it is time for a liver cleanse. This is a good time to rejuvenate the liver for the coming year of work.
Different Detox-cleansing Regimes
Your body should clean itself naturally, but today's diets make that process difficult. Many turn to internal body cleansing to rid the body of waste products and toxins.
Test Your Indoor Air Quality!
How safe is your Indoor Air?1) Does your home have carpeting?* Carpeting captures dust, dirt, chemicals and everything we track in from the outdoors. Carpeting also outgases formaldehydes and other chemicals used in processing.
Alternative and Complementary Medicine: Old Medicine, New Synergies
The terms alternative medicine and complementary medicine are often wrongly used as synonyms. Actually, the termalternative medicine refers to medicine systems likeAyurveda or Acupuncture that are used in place ofconventional medicine, while complementary medicine refersto those therapies like massage that are used inconjunction with conventional medicine.
Frankincense in Aromatherapy - Trees, Pearls, and Essential Oil
The Mysterious FrankincenseUsed for many thousands of years, the Frankincense tree has perhaps the greatest association with spiritualpractice of any plant on earth. In most of the great ancient cultures,including the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman civilizations, it has played a role inreligious and domestic life.
Honey! Natural Treatment for Gum Disease
There is quite a bit of talk going on about the antimicrobial properties of the sweetener, Xylitol, which is a product manufactured from cornstalks. The dental hygienist community (discussion groups) is where I am seeing most of this and my understanding is that it is a pretty good product as a sweetener and good for your teeth and gums.
How To Improve Your Mood And Health With Deep Breathing Exercises
It is relatively well known now that exercise releases endorphins that can help to pull you out of a bad mood and to aid in alleviating depression. However, mental fatigue and depression are hard moods to simply overcome.
Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Symptoms
Urinary tract infection is caused by bacteria in one of the tracts through which urine passes. The infection can occur in the urethra, ureters, or the urinary bladder.
How Laughing Is Good For Your Health
When thinking about alternative medicine, most people picture plants, crystals, needles, maybe some bugs and leeches, but few realize that jokes, humor and comedy are truly medicines, in their own right. It has long been established that optimists live longer than pessimists, but now there is some hard evidence that people with a better sense of humor also have longer and healthier lives.

More Alternative Information:

Related Articles

How Visualization Is Different from What You May Have Tried for Pain Relief
You've probably tried everything you can think of to ease your chronic pain. But chances are that in your search for relief you haven't tried anything quite like visualization statements.
Oral Chelation - What Can It Do For You? (Part 2)
Intravenous chelation therapy was more popular than oral chelation initially. It involved the injection of EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) that is an effective and widely studied chelating agent.
Balancing the Light and Dark
Integrating my dark side was a fairly torturous process for me, partly because I made it harder than it had to be. Apparently I do that a lot.
Aromatherapy Favorites: Patchouli Essential Oil
Patchouli's History and UsesAh, Patchouli oil - people seem to love it or hate it. This well know essential oil has a somewhat deserved reputation as the scent of the Hippy generation (according to one source, it's use began as a mask for the odor of a particularly cherished herb), though it's traditional use dates back hundreds, perhaps thousands of years.
Laughter, Why Its so Good for You
For hundreds of years, we've known that 'Laughter is the best medicine'.Laughter makes you feel good for a reason.
Breathing Your Way To Health
Breathing, yes of course we do it, if not we'd be dead, obvious isn't it. But in the far east Breathing techniques have been used for thousands of years.
The Importance of Touch
Through the simple process of touch, Reflexology is so effective in the healing process. In the hi-tech world that we live in, touch has taken second place to machines.
Holistic Is Not A Four-Lettered Word
If you're anything like me, then you've got a certain picture in your mind of what *holistic* is supposed to be. For me, it's conjured up pictures of holy men, or shaman, doing a ritual dance while chanting mantras, and rubbing *energy crystals* in an effort to remove evil spirits from your life.
Is Alternative Medicine Proven to Work?
The most common objection to alternative medicine from conventional physicians is that it is "not proven."What doctors mean by this is that alternative medicine has not been rigorously tested the way pharmaceutical drugs have been.
Parasites: The Missing Diagnosis?
Parasites, commonly thought of as only affecting those in developing countries, actually affect 1 in 6 people in North America and are the most common disease condition in the world. For many chronic conditions this can be the missing diagnosis.
Tips for Staying Young Eternally
What is something that goes up but never comes down? Your age!Aging is something that humans would love to conquer. Everyone seems to be obsessed in staying young.
Spring Cleaning with Nontoxic Cleaners
Spring cleaning goes beyond normal everyday cleaning. It's a major project of home revitalization: to make everything new by removing dust and dirt, to make sure everything is in good repair, and to put things in order, so that you will have everything in your household in working condition for the coming year.
What is Reiki, Benefits of Reiki, Healing Sessions, Herbs that Heal
In Japan, in the early 1920s, Mikao Usui developed Reiki-ho (Reiki method) as "the way to make mind and body healthy on the basis of Universal Reiki".* Reiki is the vibration of love and harmony of universal energy.
5 Low Cost Ways to Soothe the Sting of Sunburn
Each of us most likely has at least one memory of nasty sunburn. Whether experienced personally, or by a close family member or friend, the symptoms are likely to include anything from red hot skin - either tender or painful to touch, to nausea, dehydration, blistering and flaking or peeling of the skin.
Aromatherapys Mind-Smell Connection
Why is smell so strongly linked to memory and emotion?It is not fully understood, but this is no surprise as the complexities of brain activity are still far from being unravelled and understood. The brain holds far more secrets than we have discovered.
Pranic Therapy - Part I
Pranic Therapy Part I - An IntroductionPranic Therapy is an alternative system of Medicine using therapy with the Universal Stream of Consciousness, the Cosmic Prana.Pranic Therapy can be effectuated by proper knowledge of the psycho- physical organism, physical and mental discipline and opening all our channels to the Cosmic Prana.
Do-Sa-Do: Square Dancing and Mindfulness
When I was 12, one of my best friends was a square dancer. Twice a week, her family would pile into the Country Squire station wagon and head to the Grange Hall, where they'd gather with their square dancing club for an evening of music, friendship and do-sa-do.
The Universal Calibration LatticeŽ - Your Own Personal Connection to the Universal Energy Source
Now is an incredible time to be on Earth. All of us in our divine wisdom agreed to be here doing the journey of human at this most auspicious time in the annals of humankind.
Far Infrared Sauna Technology Comes of Age
What exactly is infrared, or radiant heat? No need to worry - it has nothing to do with either ultraviolet radiation (which gives you a sunburn and damages your skin) or atomic radiation (the kind from a nuclear bomb).Radiant heat is simply a form of energy that heats objects directly through a process called conversion, without having to heat the air in between.
The Secret Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has been used for thousands of years for a variety of healing purposes. In fact, there are references to it in the Bible as a powerful healing agent.