One million bottles of water are sold every minute. That's too many.
of ConsumerAffairsFor decades, consumers have been lugging around plastic bottles of water, fearing they will become dehydrated in the course of making a quick trip to the store.
Besides thinking it's somehow convenient to have water glugging around in your backpack or purse, many people think bottled water is somehow safer or healthier. After all, much of it supposedly comes from pure mountain streams and babbling brooks.
In fact, most of it comes straight from the tap but that's another story.
What concerns health experts today is thehuge and growing toll bottled water is taking on human and planetary health. One million bottles are bought every minute around the globe, with that figure set to rise further still amid escalating demand, warn population health experts in a commentary published in the open access journalBMJ Global Health.
Some two billion people around the world with limited or no access to safe drinking water rely on bottled water. But for the rest of us, its largely a matter of convenience and the unshaken beliefaided and abetted by industry marketingthat bottled water is safer and often healthier than tap water.
It isnt, insist researchersfrom Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar.
Thats because bottled water often isnt subject to the same quality and safety standards as tap water, and it can carry the risk of harmful chemicals leaching from the plastic bottles used for it, especially if its stored for a long time, and/or exposed to sunlight and high temperatures, they explain.
Risk of microplastics
Between an estimated 10% and 78% of bottled water samples contain contaminants, including microplastics, often classified as hormone (endocrine) disruptors, and various other substances including phthalates (used to make plastics more durable) and bisphenol A (BPA).
Microplastic contamination is associated with oxidative stress, immune system dysregulation, and changes in blood fat levels. And BPA exposure has been linked to later-life health issues, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, they add.
While there are short-term safety thresholds, the long-term effects of these contaminants remain largely unknown, the authors warn in a news release, adding that microplastics can also enter the food chain.
A greener option
Tap water is a greener and safer option. Plastic bottles make up the second most common ocean pollutant, accounting for 12% of all plastic waste. Globally, just 9% of these bottles are recycled, meaning that most end up in landfill or incinerators, or are exported to low and middle income countries, to deal with, begging the question of social justice, they say.
Apart from the waste generated, the process of extracting the raw materials and manufacturing plastic bottles significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, they add.
While some efforts have been made to facilitate the use of drinking water in restaurants and public spaces, and to curb the prevalence of single use plastics, much more needs to be done, argue the authors.
The reliance on [bottled water] incurs significant health, financial and environmental costs, calling for an urgent re-evaluation of its widespread use, they conclude. Governments must urgently confront these issues.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
Posted: 2024-09-25 20:51:54
