https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-reusable-plastic-bottles-shown-hundreds.html
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have found several hundred different chemical substances in tap water stored in reusable plastic bottles. Several of these substances are potentially harmful to human health. There is a need for better regulation and manufacturing standards for manufacturers, according to the chemists behind the study.
Two chemists from the University of Copenhagen have studied which chemical substances are released into liquids by popular types of soft plastic reusable bottles. The results were quite a surprise.
"We were taken aback by the large amount of chemical substances we found in water after 24 hours in the bottles. There were hundreds of substances in the water—including substances never before found in plastic, as well as substances that are potentially harmful to health. After a dishwasher cycle, there were several thousand," says Jan H. Christensen, Professor of Environmental Analytical Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
Professor Christensen and fellow researcher Selina Tisler detected more than 400 different substances from the bottle plastic and over 3,500 substances derived from dishwasher soap. A large portion of these are unknown substances that the researchers have yet to identify. But even of the identified chemicals, the toxicity of at least 70 % remains unknown.
Photo-initiators are among the toxic substances in the water which worry the researchers. These are known to have potentially harmful effects on health in organisms, such as being endocrine disruptors and carcinogens. Furthermore, the researchers found a variety of plastic softeners, antioxidants and release agents used in the manufacture of the plastic, as well as Diethyltoluamide (DEET), commonly known as the active substance in mosquito spray.
In their experiments, the researchers mimicked the ways in which many people typically use plastic drinks bottles. People often drink water that has been kept in bottles for several hours. The researchers left ordinary tap water in both new and used drinking bottles for 24 hours, both before and after machine washing, as well as after the bottles had been in the dishwasher and rinsed thoroughly in tap water.
"What is released most after machine washing are the soap substances from the surface. Most of the chemicals that come from the water bottle itself remain after machine washing and extra rinsing. The most toxic substances that we identified actually came after the bottle had been in the dishwasher—presumably because washing wears down the plastic and thereby increases leaching," explains postdoctoral researcher and first author Selina Tisler of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.
In new reusable bottles, close to 500 different substances remained in the water after an additional rinse. Over 100 of these substances came from the plastic itself.
She emphasizes that they have yet to conclude whether the water in the bottles is harmful to health, as they currently have only an estimate of the concentrations of the substances and toxicological assessments have yet to be completed.
"Just because these substances are in the water, doesn't mean that the water is toxic and affects us humans. But the problem is, is that we just don't know. And in principle, it isn't all that great to be drinking soap residues or other chemicals," says Selina Tisler.
"We care so much about low levels of pesticides in our drinking water. But when we pour water into a container to drink from, we unflinchingly add hundreds or thousands of substances to the water ourselves. Although we cannot yet say whether the substances in the reusable bottles affect our health, I'll be using a glass or quality stainless steel bottle in the future," says Jan H. Christensen.
"The study exemplifies how little knowledge there is about the chemicals emitted from the products that our food and drink come in contact with. And, it is a general problem that measurement regulations during production are very lenient. Fortunately, both in Denmark and internationally, we are looking into how to better regulate this area," says Jan H. Christensen.
Plastics are actively destroying the earth's ecosystem, as well as the endocrine systems of humans (and every other living organism).
Plastic seems to be a necessary evil.
What would a world without plastic look like?
What would the health of humans be like in a world without plastics?
Plastics are going to go down in history similarly to how Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) did. All of the negatives will be covered up for the sake of profits, only to later be uncovered. Then everyone with birth defects will be paid some form of settlement.
Something like 99% of humans have Teflon in their DNA. I assume the same can be said of plastics. They don't deny that, they just haven't acknowledged that it's "harmful."
Do you think having plastic in your DNA is harmful?
There are a couple major problems with society: For one, people aren't as smart as we think they are. In other words, people act like Science! has all the answers. It doesn't. Secondly, our information systems are corrupt. Pretty much everything we are told on a daily basis is a lie. The only knowledge we truly have is what we have gained from experience. You should be highly skeptical of everything else.
Wait. What am I talking about?! I almost forgot.
Our leaders care about us. They want to keep us safe. They even forced offered gene-editing injections of mRNA for free. No worries. We will probably live forever.
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