Reusing Plastic Bottles Causes Cancer Hoax
Many are unaware of poisoning caused by re-using plastic bottles.
Some of you may be in the habit of using and re-using your
disposable mineral water bottles (eg. Evian, Aqua, Ice Mountain,
Vita, etc), keeping them in your car or at work. Not a good idea.
In a nutshell, the plastic (called polyethylene terephthalate or
PET) used in these bottles contains a potentially carcinogenic
element (something called diethylhydroxylamine or DEHA).
The bottles are safe for one-time use only; if you must keep them
longer, it should be or no more than a few days, a week max, and
keep them away from heat as well. Repeated washing and rinsing
can cause the plastic to break down and the carcinogens (cancer-
causing chemical agents)can leach into the water that YOU are
drinking. Better to invest in water bottles that are really meant
for multiple uses. This is not something we should be scrimping
on. Those of you with family - please advise them,
especially for their children's sake."
In spite of the claims made in this email forward, there is no credible scientific evidence that reusing plastic bottles can lead to cancer.
The PET plastics
used in such bottles have been approved by
the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and similar
organizations in other nations. Furthermore, DEHA is not classified as a human carcinogen
and is not considered to pose any significant health risk to humans.
The hoax email originated from a University of Idaho student's
masters thesis. However, although the student's findings were
taken up by the mainstream media, the FDA did not review the
thesis nor was it published in any scientific or technical journal.
Furthermore, the thesis incorrectly identifies DEHA as a
carcinogenic element when this is not the case. According to the
American Plastics Council website
the thesis "did not reflect a level of scientific rigor that would provide accurate
and reliable information".
Moreover, DEHA is not present in PET either as a raw material or as a decomposition product. Although the Idaho student detected DEHA, this was most likely due to laboratory contamination. An article about the warning message
on South Africa's Food Advisory Consumer Service website states that:
"The fact is that DEHA is not inherent in PET as a raw material or as a decomposition product of PET. DEHA is approved for food contact applications and would not pose a health risk even if it were present. It is commonly used as a plasticiser in many other plastic items, used on a daily basis. It is presumed that the DEHA detected in PET bottles by the student at Idaho University probably originated from other plastic components in the laboratory environment.
Reusing plastic bottles can
be a health risk in that improper cleaning could lead to the ingestion of harmful bacteria. Unless careful cleaning of the container is carried out, potentially dangerous bacteria could be left behind. However, the potential for bacterial contamination applies to other types of container such as glass, not just plastic.
While the bacterial health risk of reusing plastic bottles does
need to be considered, the cancer related claims in this email forward are unfounded.