Drink up … water is good for you. But the plastic water bottle you carry your water in may contain more than H2O.

Why do you care?

• Plastic water bottles have a lot of baggage - they start out as petroleum, produce cancer-causing dioxins when manufactured, use hormone disrupting chemicals and finally, when its life as a water container is over, contribute to massive landfill waste.1
• Problems associated with the 2 main types of plastic water containers are:
  • The single use - disposable water bottles marked with the symbol.
    • Only suitable for 1 use - repeated use suggests that a DEHA, a possible human carcinogen can leach.2
    • Dangers of repeated use is the growth of harmful germs.3
    • Environmental impact is very real - only 14% are recycled, the rest end up in trash where they can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.4
  • The reusable plastic water bottle sometimes marked with the symbol.
    • Contains bisphenol A (BPA) which has shown to leach from polycarbonate plastic when exposed to hot liquids, alkaline material, or when a bottle is aged or damaged.
    • New research says "BPA doesn't work like a conventional harmful agent - it's the smallest doses that may cause the greatest harm, by stimulating estrogen receptors to produce more estrogen. Increased estrogen linked to prostrate cancer, pre-cancerous breast tissue, obesity and diabetes in animal studies.5
    • For more on BPA's see Plastics.
• A 2005 U.S. government program found that 95% of people tested had measurable levels of the chemical and The Environmental Defense also found BPA in Canadians.
  

The Know How

• Pure Know How water container basics:
  • Use metal or glass containers whenever you can.
    • Metal - Stainless steel and lined aluminum are the two main options. Ensure they come from a reputable manufacturer like Klean Kanteen or SIGG.
    • Glass - VOSS bottled water from Norway comes in a cool reusable glass bottle.
• Look at the numbers on the bottom of the drink containers you currently use.
  • No.7 hard polycarbonate plastics have shown to leach bisphenol A and they are not recyclable in most areas. Double strike.
  • No.1 are to be used only once - not suitable to reuse and do not freeze leaching can increase as bottles ages.
  • No.5 are safer plastics, have not shown to leach. Yet.
• If you do use bottled water do so quickly, as chemicals may migrate from plastic during storage. Ask retailers how long water has been on their shelves, and don't buy if it's been there for months.
• See full list of plastic symbols and meanings.

Know and Tell

• Being a bargain hunter Patti discovered "metal" water bottles at the dollar store. She soon learned that not all metals are created equal as the water tasted like metal and they smelled funny (a very scientific assessment but her nose knows!). She has now switched over to Klean Kanteens.
• Tamey sometimes used the small plastics drink containers that have a No.5 on them for the kids drinks. But now uses both stainless steel and lined aluminum bottles.
• Pure Know How has launched its own logo'ed Klean Kanteen water bottle. These bottles are good for you (no leaching of nasty chemicals), good for the environment (reusable and will last a long, long time) and a good way to support the work of Pure Know How. More details to purchase.
  

Pure Know How Kids

• Plastics, plastics on the wall … what ones are the safest of them all? We focus in this KIDS e-bulletin on plastic drink containers like baby bottles and sippy cups.

1 Leslie Garrett, The Virtuous Consumer, 2007.
2 Society for Risk Analysis, Abstract paper by D. Lilya, University of Idaho, 2001
3 Canadian Cancer Society
4 American Recycling Institute
5 An Extensive New Literature Concerning Low-Dose Effects of Bisphenol A Shows the Need for a New Risk Assessment, Frederick S. vom Saal and Claude Hughes. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2005