Friday, August 20, 2010

PLASTIC bottles??? Or TOXIC bottles???

Hi all.. Back Again after a looonnnggg time.. To be frank I think I could think about my poor blog only during study holidays or when exams are round the corner, I tried to write a post but there was many things which distracted me from doing so.. And THE main culprit was Facebook.. God!!!! Time jus flies when i login to FB.. But At last I have some how stolen my attention to write a post and save my starving Blog :)

Here it goes.... but this time.. a serious post... after a LONG research [thanks to all those research methodology classes, and my mam would be more than happy to know I have used it for my Blog ;) ]... And I would like to repeat, this post is made after referring to several sites and the information depends on those sites alone..
There are many types of plastic bottles available to us now, right from the soft drinks to the medicines come in plastic bottles, many of us would not be aware that all the bottles cannot be reused. Each plastic bottles are produced for certain specific purpose and it can serve only that.
For example, The pet bottles, almost everyone's pet, are made for single time use, and thus is used usually for soft drinks, mineral water, etc., but we use it as our water bottles, but fortunately it is considered to be safe, though non proper cleaning may cause bacterial contamination. But this doesn't mean that the leaching of toxic is nil, but its minimal.
There are many other types of plastic bottles ranging from no.1 to 7. And each of which have different properties and usage. Now I understand you all wondering how do I check the number or detail about the bottle, its actually simple, every plastic bottle has a triangular symbol with a number inside it, which would be there under the bottle( mostly PET bottles don't have it coz we know its pet i believe, but I couldn't find in any of the pet bottles as of now). Check it out and note the number, here is the details for those numbers:
  • #1 (PET or PETE) As already explained used for soft drinks, not recommended to refill. It's called Pet coz of the polyethylene terepthalate resin in it..
  • #2 (HDPE) - High density poly ethylene used for milk bottles, shampoo etc, #4 (LDPE) Low density polyethylene used for squeezy bottles like mustard, and #5(PP) polypropylene are usually used for medicine bottles, are the ones generally considered to be safe.
  • #3(PVC) very common plastic for pipes, and #6(PS) Polystyrene used usually for food service items such as cups, plates, etc., are generally considered to pose health risks and to be avoided. Though they are not used for water, they are used as food & beverage containers.
  • #7(Others) It means this plastic is made using some other resin other than the 6 listed above. This is usually polycarbonate and has the risk of BPA( Bisphenol A) a harmful xenoestrogen that interferes with human hormonal messaging, which is reported to be the causes for the Breast and uterine cancers.

This BPA can also pose threat to children's developing systems, but the sad news is many of the plastic bottles for children like Sippy cups or baby bottles are of BPA containing plastics.. So try to avoid clear and hard plastic bottles, especially marked #7, or avoid plastic bottles altogether and use Glass bottles. There are glass bottles looking like plastic bottles available nowadays..

So, now I understand you all wondering should we all stop using plastic bottles altogether? The answer is avoid it as far as possible, Use the safer ones like BPA free or #2,4 &5, and avoid using plastic in microwave eventhough they are microwave safe, as there are high chances of BPA leaching in food when cooked in microwave..



PLASTIC BOTTLES ARE NOT TOXIC BOTTLES IF USED SAFELY.. BUT TOXIC IF REFILLED OR REUSED WITHOUT PROPER KNOWLEDGE.