BYOB part deux: Why I don’t buy bottled water…
- And, of course, the bottles are said to leach chemicals.
- Take a look at your bottle and you’ll see the inscription “Do not refill.” You may even see “store in a cool, dry and clean place away from light.”
- PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which is the plastic most bottles are made of, can leach benzyl butyl phthalate (endocrine disruptive chemicals, cause of liver & male reproductive damage in rodents), and DEHA (a known carcinogen) - though we are not yet certain how and to what extent these are harmful to humans.
- Even your Nalgene is not safe. Nalgene’s are made of a polycarbonate plastic called Lexan that contains bisphenol A (BPA), which if consumed can cause chromosomal disruption, miscarriages, birth defects and obesity. Nalgene’s were recently pulled from the shelves at some stores in Canada until further research.
While it is probably safer to not rely on plastic bottles, these points are a tad misleading. Your Nalgene is, most likely, safe. You should, however, throw out your Nalgene if it is particularly old or particularly scratched. Plastics do not constantly leak large amounts of chemicals under normal conditions. Biscardi et al. (Science of the Total Envrionment, vol. 302, 2003, 101-108) found that harmful toxins became present in water stored in PET bottles only after 9 months. As long as you plan to use the bottle within a reasonable timeframe there is nothing to be worried about (in terms of PET leaching).
That being said, I myself am against consuming bottled water. The study I cited previously (send me an email if you want the full PDF) found that toxic compounds were found in the pipes that supplied the water to the bottling process. Not cool. I’m more on the side of preventing the seemingly widespread thought that chemicals are bad.
