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Hot liquid increases toxic leaching from plastic bottles, says study

Posted at 12:07 PM on 30 Jan 2008

Contact with hot liquid causes a huge spike in the amount of toxic chemical bisphenol A leaching out of plastic bottles, says new research that's bad news for baby-bottle-sterilizing parents and hot-liquid-drinking hikers. Filling bottles with boiling water boosted rates of BPA ooze by up to 55 times more than room-temperature water did, according to the study published in the journal Toxicology Letters. The age of the bottle was found to be irrelevant. Cold chocolate, anyone?

sources: The Globe and Mail, USA Today, The Canadian Press, The Guardian

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Comments: (9 comments)

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BPA vs. Other Dangers

There is little question that BPA (or even the scarier sounding doixin) is nasty stuff much like so much of the chemicals that underpin our society. It's killing us and doing all kinds of other horrible things we don't understand.

But let's be realistic on what the impact of BPA is compared to all the other dangers we face everyday -- like getting hit by random gunfire or being run over by a bus on the way home from work.

What we should be concerned with is real threats in our environment. Things like global warming, acid rain, suburban sprawl, or even known and dammed killer likes smoking, asbestos working in closed spaces without protection, smog, and leaded gasoline.

I've many time reused old Gatorade bottles, sometimes with hot coffee (once even melting the bottle -- oops), and have yet to die. I've breathed in smoke from burning trash with PVC in it, and yet I still feel pretty good.

I'm not saying we should not care about BPA. But if the government says it's safe, and around everywheres, there's not much we can do about besides lobbying government to take a second look at it.

by nycowboy at 2:15 PM on 30 Jan 2008

BPA is parta the larger issue...

...nycowboy, I agree we have large issue to tackle, but let's keep in mind that most of the large issues are also comprised of a variety of smaller issue, and BPA and disposable bottles as a whole is one of 'em.

Think of all the energy and all the resources it takes to produce those disposable bottles, all the energy it takes to transport 'em. When they get thrown away, what happens when they break down? How does it effect the soil? The groundwater? Plants and animals?

By itself, it may not be much of an issue, but if we tackle the small stuff, then we help to weaken the big stuff.

by Tasermons Partner at 2:49 PM on 30 Jan 2008

polycarbonate is not the same thing as PET

Tasermons Partner,

Your response seems to suggest that disposable plastic bottles are related to this BPA issue effecting polycarbonate plastic bottles. Most disposable plastic bottles are made from PET. The cited information and other research on BPA does not apply to these PET bottles.

by drocto at 4:02 PM on 30 Jan 2008

Real Proof

Cowboy says:

"I've many time reused old Gatorade bottles, sometimes with hot coffee (once even melting the bottle -- oops), and have yet to die. I've breathed in smoke from burning trash with PVC in it, and yet I still feel pretty good."

Well that settles it for me. Never mind all those silly chemists and their tests.

by Boyscientist at 4:04 PM on 30 Jan 2008

where did I put that ...

My 1960's army toys had a real 1Q aluminum canteen ... man I wish I still had that classic.

(I usually put ice in my 1L hiking bottle, but my bike bottles tend to warm up quite a bit.)

by odograph at 4:16 PM on 30 Jan 2008

Too broad?...

Your response seems to suggest that disposable plastic bottles are related to this BPA issue effecting polycarbonate plastic bottles. Most disposable plastic bottles are made from PET. The cited information and other research on BPA does not apply to these PET bottles.

Yeah, maybe I was alittle to broad. BPA bottles are probably worse than PET bottles. However, both are an issue. Plus, BPA is used in lotsa other things besides just bottles.

But still, the priciple applies. We can help take care of the big issues, by tacklin' the smaller ones.

by Tasermons Partner at 4:18 PM on 30 Jan 2008

Back to potery

We begin to be used in every step to discover that most of our consumption goods are not safe for health. As plastic bottles are more toxic with heath and hot contents...we have better, as southerners, to use potery to carry water.

When we look twice to things in the nature, they may certainly reveal their aura.

by Lihidheb mohsen at 12:19 PM on 31 Jan 2008

What's it worth?

Bisphenol A is actually an incredibly important health and environmental issue. Some people may think there isn't a health risk because they aren't able to easily correlate a disease with exposures to chemicals, but that doesn't mean the risk doesn't exist. Some things don't have immediate effects. Risks aren't always direct either. For example, another source of exposure is through the food chain because BPA ends up in fish and the environment during the production and disposal phases. There is no reason to use BPA because alternatives exist, so it's an issue in this respect also. Why use it?

by My2cents4free at 6:26 PM on 01 Feb 2008

55 times what?

Filling bottles with boiling water boosted rates of Bisphenol A by up to 55 times more than room-temperature water did, according to the study published in the journal Toxicology Letters. I don't have, the Journal's data; 55 times what value? Chronic toxicity (1 gallon consumption and daily skin absorption for 65 years) values for BPA is 1.2 parts per million. Leaching concentrations I've seen in lab reports is on the part per trillion level.

Metal containers - jeez, talk about cool water leaching, ever seen corrosion or scaling?

Glass containers, oh yeah, more metals and a fragile container.

Give me a Bota Bag! Those goats didn't need their stomachs anymore. Economical, lightweight, reuseable, sustainable resource, and thousands of generations have used them before us.

by geochemistry at 8:27 AM on 05 Feb 2008

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