Water May Be Great, But the Bottle Ain’t!
Filed Under Health and Wellness |
When I was a university student, I never left home without my trusty yellow Nalgene water bottle. I carried it everywhere, whether I was going to the gym or to the movies, its golden plastic clipped to the outside of my backpack, bumping against my back, full of that elixir of life: good ol’ H20.
One day when I was back home, my mother commented on my well-used and well-worn plastic water canister. She said I should discard of it, because she suspected—without any scientific evidence—that it was likely crawling with millions of tiny microbes, mixing with my daily drink.
Of course, at the time, I thought she was just being silly, or at least motherly. I mean, I did wash it several times a week, and it’s not like I would leave it lying around on the ground or fill it with sugary drinks.
Boy, was I ever wrong. New evidence has come to light after researchers discovered that the mere use of certain types of water bottles can leach a chemical called bisphenol A (also known as BPA) into the water. Polycarbonate—a type of plastic that is used in the production of Nalgene and other plastic products and carries the number 7 recycling figure—is made from BPA.
Erin
