The Utility Of Plastic Bottles: How Safe Are They?

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The transparent 'Plastic Bottle' has today become a part and parcel of our day-to-day life. We drink water from it, bottle beverages in it, store medicine in it etc, and some of us even encourage our children to use it in school as water bottles. When did you last see a kid taking a metal water bottle to school? I can't recall and in all probability, neither will you be able to. Water Bottles now come in plastics and in shapes corresponding to the child's favorite cartoon character, thereby enhancing the brand value of the character(but dong nothing for the kid.)

Every once in a while, environmentalists and natural scientists role tell us that plastics upset the ecological balance of our planet, as they are not biodegradable. We listen and then forget all about it. But it appears that this routine will not be repeated anymore. The plastic bottle is once more under attack from environmental scientists and experts from all over the world, who claim plastic bottles to be a serious health hazard. And this time, the charges may actually stick as the scientists claim that they have experimental data which proves the authenticity of their charge. 

India Airless Bottle

Plastic Bottles-a health hazard: Fact or Fiction

But how can using plastic bottles affect our health because we only use it as a container? After all, we consume only the liquid stored inside the bottle and not the plastic itself? These are apparently logical questions that people ask. We will answer the question in a roundabout way rather then providing a direct answer. Take a plastic bottle near you (empty will be a better choice then a full bottle) and turn it around. Plastic bottles (in fact all items made from Plastic are) required to have a sort of triangular structure embossed on its surface with ( formed from three straight lines which do not join at the edges). Inside this triangle there is a number from 1 to 7 (This small figure is usually on the bottom of the bottle or container, but it can be anywhere). These numbers denote the type of plastic which was used to make the bottle. Under #1 falls the most common bottle material PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate).We then have PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) at #2, LDPE (Low density polyethylene) at #3 and so on to #7. The higher the number, the less recyclable is the plastic.

Plastic is a synthetic man-made material and is not a natural. compound. Different organic compounds are mixed together at different conditions to produce different grades of plastic, by chemists. Plastic Bottles are then made out of this product by SPM's (special Purpose Machines). As Plastic is not biodegradable, they are usually recycled and our problem surfaces here. When plastic bottles are used a no of times in recycling cycles, the plastic molecules loses some of their bonding strength and undergo wear & tear,at micro levels. This induces tiny cracks in the material which in turn can lead to the leaching of a chemical called BPA (Biphenyl A). BPA can affect your hormones, can lead to cardiac problems and (hold your breath) can even act as a carcinogenic catalyst. Then at #3 and #4, a compound called DEP can be leeched which has been known to cause cancer. At the end of the range, #7 falling in the category OTHERS does not support recycling.

The conflict of interests

There has been a war of words all along between the plastic industry and the environmentalists. The initial reports of the fall-out of Biphenyl A was discredited by the Plastic Industry as the research paper of a student of the University of Idaho, whose research was never checked by experts and discredited by peers. Even the FDA was of the opinion that the alleged harmful effects of Bi Phenyl A have no scientific backup. However with Health Canada banning PET use in infant bottles in 2008, the environmentalist groups have found hidden energy reserves. The FDA (the all powerful drug regulatory authority of the US) now says that it is concerned about Biphenyl effects in children and foetuses.

So what are we to do now? Should we use plastic bottles as the plastic industry tells us to? No- obviously not. We do have replacements such as aluminum, stainless steel or light weight metallic compounds. We have glass.