21/07/2010: South Africa Why BPA Free Drink Bottles? Bisphenol A (or BPA for short) is a compound used in the manufacturing of many plastics. There have been many reports in main stream media about the dangers of BPA leaching in to the drinking water or food of containers made with BPA.
BPA is an endocrine disruptor and can mimic the body’s own hormones which may lead to negative health effects in high doses. Regulatory bodies have determined safety levels for humans, but those safety levels are currently being questioned as a result of new scientific studies.
What harm can BPA do to my health?
The studies on the effects of BPA in the human system are very much in their infancy.The Endocrine Society have expressed concern over current human exposure to BPA, reporting that BPA appears to be pouring in to the human body from a variety of unknown sources.
Studies done in 2009 on mice have shown:-
* BPA exposure caused long term adverse reproductive problems during prenatal critical periods * Neonatal exposure to BPA disrupted ovarian development * Plus many others
While there is much debate about their effects, do you really want to keep drinking out of unsafe plastic water bottles while we’re waiting for the results?
Environmental concerns with plastic bottled water
Here’s some fast facts about the bottled water industry. Even if you ignore the hype about BPA, these environmental concerns are enough to warrante everyone switching from buying bottled water ot carrying your own around in a BPA free water bottle.
* It takes 10 litres of water to make a 1 litre disposable plastic water bottle * 200ml of oil goes in to the production of a 600ml disposable plastic water bottle * In America, 1,500 disposable water bottles end up as rubbish EVERY SECOND
