Are reusable plastic bottles harmful?
Nowadays, with the help of advanced analytical tools, scientists are now able to detect chemicals that may leach from plastic sports bottles into water. Recent research has uncovered that plastic bottles might not be as safe as we once thought. These bottles have been found to release hundreds of chemicals into the water they hold, with the amount generally increasing after being washed in the dishwasher. Therefore, it may be wise to reconsider the use of reusable sports bottles.
Scientists have been aware for a while that chemicals can seep out of plastic, and some of these chemicals can be harmful. Manufacturers have already removed some of the more concerning chemicals, like bisphenol A (BPA), from plastic products such as water bottles. However, there is still little information available about other chemicals that could be released from these items. Scientists have only recently been equipped with the means to identify numerous compounds that plastics might release. According to Kurunthachalam Kannan, a chemist at New York University, new tools are now available that enable some of these unknown pollutants to be detected. At the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, two scientists have employed advanced analytical tools to examine water from sports bottles.
Christensen, who is a soccer coach, noticed that his team’s players frequently drank water from reusable plastic sports bottles. Occasionally, the players would complain that their water tasted or smelled like plastic, especially if it had been sitting in the bottles for a while. Christensen decided to investigate the issue, and he asked Selina Tisler, a scientist on his team, to assist him. At the time, Tisler recalls that they had no idea what they were looking for. The experiment went like this, water was left to sit for 24 hours in new bottles, used bottles, and bottles that had just gone through a dishwashing machine. Mass spectrometry was used to test the water, a device that can weigh the mass of different chemicals in a sample to identify them. Tisler and Christensen compared the substances present in the water from plastic bottles to those in water that had been stored in glass, and they discovered a significant difference. The findings of Selina Tisler and Jan Christensen reveal that the water stored in these reusable bottles contained numerous plastic-related chemicals, which were not present in the original water. Also, over 400 different compounds were found to have migrated from new plastic bottles into the water. These compounds included plasticizers, which are added by manufacturers to make the bottles squeezable, slip agents that are used to make plastic products slide easily out of their molds, and chemicals related to inks, which can give the bottles color and make them look shiny.
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It has been discovered that the highest levels of plastic-related chemicals can be found in the water stored in older plastic bottles. In addition, washing these bottles through a dishwasher can worsen the leaching of these chemicals. After just one wash cycle, over 3,500 different compounds can end up in a bottle of water, many of which are related to dishwasher soap and may remain even after a second rinse. The pollutants tend to adhere more strongly to plastic bottles than to glass ones. Dishwashing also seems to increase the release of plastic chemicals.
Plastics can be harmful when repeatedly exposed to high heat, causing chemicals to migrate out of them. While a dishwasher can clean and sanitize dishes effectively, it is not recommended to put plastic items in it. In the late 1990s, a scientist discovered that BPA, a chemical found in plastic cages and water bottles, had leached out and tainted the food and drinking water of lab mice. Mice exposed to this chemical had difficulty reproducing. Although no BPA was found in water stored in sports bottles, the study did detect other chemicals present in plasticizers and colorants that may similarly disrupt hormones.
Reusable plastic bottles release hundreds of pollutants into water. (2022, May 18). Science News Explores. https://www.snexplores.org/article/reusable-plastic-bottles-release-hundreds-of-pollutants-into-water
Your headline and lede single sentence paragraph very effectively catch a reader's attention. The topic is timely and of immediate concern. While not a general interest site Science News Explores may attract a reasonably sized audience. The impetus for the SNE article seems to have been the publication of the Tisler and Christensen study in the Journal of Hazardous Materials in May 1922. It's helpful to the reader to mention that, although the anecdote about the members of Christensen's sports team provides very identifiable context for the story. You effectively summarize T&C's study, and it sounds like a reliable systematic study. It is important, of course, to note whether the media pay attention to whether or not sound scientific methods are used in a study like this one. It certainly gives one pause about using reusable plastic containers. Perhaps the most surprising conclusion is that running the containers through a dishwasher makes the problem worse not better. You might have added in conclusion that glass containers do not have these problems.
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