Plastic Water Bottles will Kill our Children

[Guinevere]

Yes, there are lots of studies that the water in water bottles isn't any better than water right out of the tap. And recent science shows that water sitting around in plastic bottles can leach harmful chemicals from the bottles into the water.


http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/chap4.asp

http://people.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise ... attap.html

http://www.banthebottle.net/articles/pl ... tal-risks/

[Crackpot]

I believe those studies are on different plastics than what common water bottles are made of. (In fact I believe it's more of the type of plastics used in "reusable" water bottles.

[Joe Guy]

Yes, there are lots of studies that the water in water bottles isn't any better than water right out of the tap. And recent science shows that water sitting around in plastic bottles can leach harmful chemicals from the bottles into the water.

I'm aware that water from a plastic bottle isn't better for you than tap water but you wrote that you can get water that's better for you from another source.

All studies I've read regarding the possible toxicity of plastic water bottles (and canned foods) address the amounts of BPA released and none of them have been conclusive.

[Econoline]

It's pretty amazing that our society has reached the point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it to a refinery, turn it into plastic, shape it appropriately, ship it to a factory, fill it with water, truck it to a store, buy it, and bring it home is considered to be less effort than what it takes just to turn on the damn tap.

[rubato]

It's pretty amazing that our society has reached the point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it to a refinery, turn it into plastic, shape it appropriately, ship it to a factory, fill it with water, truck it to a store, buy it, and bring it home is considered to be less effort than what it takes just to turn on the damn tap.

It's worse than that. Fiji water is collected in the island of the same name and shipped back to the United States where it is distributed in containers whose markings are the only thing which differentiates them.

Modern advertising and marketing often induces behavior which is individually trivial but collectively causes appreciable harm.

Do we have the right to protect ourselves from this sort of harm, or not?



yrs,
rubato

[Rick]

well Evian backwards is Naive

[Jarlaxle]

I believe those studies are on different plastics than what common water bottles are made of. (In fact I believe it's more of the type of plastics used in "reusable" water bottles.

Plastic water bottles are made of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, recycle symbol 1) or high-density polyethylene (HDPE, 2)...the same as soda/juice bottles & milk jugs, respectively.

[rubato]

There has been a lot of work done on BPA since concerns were first raised at the end of the 1990s. The evidence is that it is not really very harmful.

The risk is so low we should just move on.

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Anything that discourages people from wasting money on bottled water is probably a good thing. Even if it's contained in a stupid, obtrusive ordinance.