Dr. Lisa, chiropractor and nutritionist, inspires you to create health and happiness in body, mind and spirit.

The Water Bottle Dilemma

October 10, 2011

This post is third in the Prevent Breast Cancer Project series.

In the midst of the Prevent Breast Cancer Project series we must pause and be mindful of the water choices we make. Are you aware how dangerous plastic water bottles are for our kids and family, this includes our water coolers in our homes and offices? Ugh, right? Read on!

We must look at the plastic used in the on- the -go water bottles and water coolers. Most of the on- the- go water bottles are #1 and are reported to leach harmful chemicals into the water. These are considered to be PET plastics which leach things like petroleum and hormone disrupting chemicals. BPA is another chemical that has been linked to cancers such as breast and uterine cancer, a decrease in testosterone in men, and Type II Diabetes. BPA is high in the #7 type plastic bottles.

The numbers claimed to be safe are #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene) or #5 PP (polypropylene), but most water bottles are usually a #1. Water coolers are usually a #7 which are found to also leach harmful chemicals. I personally don’t drink from any water bottles unless there isn’t a choice. Even if you are thinking you are safe with #2, #4 or #5 the facts are that the water within the bottles have been reported to be nothing more than TAP WATER, not water from far away springs and filtered kindly of harmful ingredients. In fact, most waters on the market today are full of chemicals both in the tap water and leaching from the plastic that holds it.

Buying water bottles also creates a demand on gas and oil both in the production of the plastics and the delivery of the bottles to stores. Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. According to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away.

HOW TO DRINK HEALTHY WATER ON THE GO?

It’s a great question and takes only a few little changes in our daily habits, but will make all the difference to the health of your family and beloved Earth.

Simply use a reusable water bottle that is made out of the safer plastics #2, #4, or #5 and fill with filtered water from your home. The best solution however, is to use a water bottle made of stainless steel to avoid any debate about the plastics above. In our home, we use filtered water in to go stainless steel bottles. We send the kids to school with them and take about town. Click here for party on choices of safe on the go water bottles!

Remember, the crazy harmful chemicals in the plastics leach into the water and thus, into your body. Yes, this happens even without water bottles sitting in the heat. Once in the body, theses ingredients create hormonal disruption thus, creating cancer (such as breast and uterine) and other harmful diseases such as Type II Diabetes. GIRLFRIENDS! STOP BUYING THEM AND IF ANYTHING DO NOT GIVE THEM TO YOUR CHILDREN… Dig deep and bring it.