Plastic Bottles Health Risks Are Nothing To Scoff At

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We’re pretty sure that by now, no one is under the impression that disposable plastic water bottles are a good thing. They are far from green to produce, take up a ton of unnecessary space in landfills, can require up to 1,000 years to fully decompose and are truly horrible for human health. Yet here we are, with a plastic water bottle industry that sells a staggering 35 billion units per year.

So maybe people just aren’t truly getting it. Here’s exactly why they’re so hazardous to your body, clearing up any ambiguity that still remains.

The water isn’t as pure as you think it is.

Some bottled water companies source their contents from springs or treat it multiple times over to ensure that the quality they market is the quality you get. However, plenty of others use tap water from wherever their bottling plants are located. What’s more, studies have found many bottled water samples contain phthalates, mold, microbes, benzene, trihalomethanes and arsenic.

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BPA-free doesn’t mean problem-free.

Plenty of bottled water companies have already nixed the use of Bisphenol A, but that doesn’t mean that other plastic components can’t find their way into the water you’re drinking. A recent study examined 11 bottled water brands across nine countries and found that 93 percent of the samples included microplastics. They found polypropylene, polystyrene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate across the samples. It’s not clear how the compounds are getting in there, but the fact that you’re downing plastic in your water is a major problem in and of itself. (Because, obviously, plastic shouldn’t be eaten.)

They expose you to additional endocrine disrupters.

Many of the plastics and chemicals you come into contact with by drinking out of these bottles regularly are endocrine disruptors, which means they negatively affect how your body naturally produces and regulates hormones. They can impact everything from children’s nervous systems to adult reproductive health. And the more you’re exposed to them, the more likely you are to struggle with unwanted symptoms.

Maybe realizing the ramifications on a personal level will be the driving force that turns people away from these toxic convenience purchases. Or maybe people will continue to not really give a damn, polluting the earth as well as their bodies. To each his or her own. But between us, we’re definitely sticking with our chemical-free, reusable bottles.

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