The Hidden Dangers of the Explosion of Bottled Water Use

[Guest guest]

The Hidden Dangers of the Explosion of Bottled Water Use

 

http://www.mercola.com/2006/jun/20/the_hidden_dangers_of_the_explosion_of_bottled_water_use.htm

 

 

 

Bottled water -- a $22-billion industry -- is the fastest growing beverage industry in the world. Close to half of the U.S. population drinks bottled water on a regular basis, despite the fact that it can be up to 1,000 times more expensive than the tap.

With bottled water sales rising rapidly -- U.S. sales rose 11.5 percent in 2001 to reach close to $6.5 billion -- environmental and consumer groups are asking: is bottled water really a better option than tap water?

Is Bottled Water Pure?

About one-quarter of U.S. bottled water comes from a municipal water source. The industry maintains that no illness outbreaks have ever been linked to U.S. bottled water.

However, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) conducted a study of 103 brands of bottled water (over 1,000 bottles were tested in all) and found that one-third contained synthetic organic chemicals and bacteria.

One sample even contained arsenic levels above state health limits.

The NRDC maintains that city tap water is required to undergo more rigorous testing and has higher purity standards than bottled water.

Is There an Environmental Toll?

The plastic bottles in which bottled water is typically sold are made of plastic polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. The manufacture of these bottles can release phathalates, which have been found to cause birth defects in animals, into the environment.

The International Bottled Water Association says that the bottles are recyclable and are reused up to 100 times before being made into other products.

 

 

PBS Frontline World June 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worldwide consumption of bottled water increased by nearly 60 percent to 41 billion gallons in 2004. We are on track toward more than 50 billion gallons this year.

Imagine that, 50 billion gallons of bottled water.

Like most things in life there are positive and negative aspects to this trend. The major benefit of course is that water is the fluid we were all designed to drink, and drinking it as a primary beverage is the first step anyone seeking to improve their physical health habits should take.

Drinking enough pure water is vital to your health. It's best to sip the water throughout the day, rather than consume large quantities at once. If you drink a quart of water at a time most of the water will pass through your body before you're able to use it, so sip it slowly throughout the day rather than gulping it down a few times a day.

If you are addicted to soda and have not made the transition to using water as your primary fluid, then you might consider the powerful and free energy psychology tool called Turbo Tapping. It has worked very effectively for many of my patients.

Using bottled water can help you avoid chlorine as nearly all bottled waters are not chlorinated. However, many are merely filtered tap water. While typical filtering removes chlorine, it does not remove fluoride.

If you don't understand why fluoride in your water is a bone poison that you want to avoid, then please read our review of The Fluoride Deception. This is a book I would have written if Christopher Bryson hadn't beat me to it. You can also review our fluoride article links, What Your Dentist Isn't Telling You About Fluoride, for more information on the dangers of fluoride.

What is Wrong With Bottled Water?

The downside of the tsunami of bottled water that has flooded the market is the enormous strain on the environment this is producing. You don't need an advanced degree in astrophysics to understand that you were designed to drink water around where you live.

With the price of gasoline rising faster than nearly everyone's paycheck, it has become painfully obvious how much it costs to transport water over long distances. Not only are there wasteful costs in transporting this water but enormous amounts of energy are used to created the bottles that store this 50 billion gallons of water.

Once you get past the energy issue you will still have to contend with the type of plastic that the bottle is stored in, as there are many potentially dangerous types of plastic.

Conventional Nalgene bottles should be avoided. I recommend using the wide-mouth Nalgene bottles that are made from safer plastic. I found them at www.campmor.com. The wide mouth allows them to be easily cleaned so they don't accumulate bacteria. I bring my water to my office with me in a glass container, as that is better. It is just difficult to travel with glass due to the obvious safety reasons.

So ideally it would be best to avoid using all disposable bottled water sources. Water delivered to your home in reusable five-gallon jugs is not as big as an energy hog.

However, using water from your own well or municipal water supply that is filtered would be better. My staff and I are still investigating the enormous varieties of water filter units for your home and hope to share our recommendations with you later this year.

It is important to know that typically the only filter that is effective at removing the fluoride that is added to most municipal water supplies is a reverse osmosis filter. Although I have well water in my home that does not have fluoride added, I still use this type of filter personally.

 

 

 

Related Articles:

 

 

 

 

The Real Cost of Bottled Water

Coke Wants to Fool You With Their Bottled Water

Is Your Bottled Water Really Clean?

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Re: one water sample contained arsenic levels above state health

limits, a warning that arsenic in drinking water increases cancer

and diabetes at around .5 PPB, a figure suggested by researchers

to be the correct safe level, far below the WHO suggestion of 5

PPB, the newly reduced EPA safety limit of 10 PPB or Canada's 25

PPB.

 

I did a couple of newspaper columns and a commercial page on

arsenic in drinking water a couple of years ago but didn't stay

with the commercial aspect. Arsenic induces mitochondrial ATP

production impairment, an aggravating or causative factor in the

autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes etc. And you'd be

surprised at how prevalent arsenic exposure is, and the actual

levels, in many parts of the continent and the world; here's the

page:

http://members.shaw.ca/duncancrow/arsenic-in-drinking-water.html

 

> The NRDC maintains that city tap

> water is required to undergo more rigorous testing and has

> higher purity standards than bottled water.

 

The page above gives NRDC information and references; maybe your

state's and county's arsenic levels appear there or on

http://stopdrinkingpoison.com which is the commercial page.

 

I do use tap water and I don't use the arsenic filter myself

because arsenic levels in our aquifer are nearly always below 1

PPB. Selenium, glutathione actually, is a natural mechanism to

get rid of small chronic exposure to arsenic, but people don't

get enough raw food for adequate precursors. These are plentiful

in cold-processed whey; I do use cold-processed whey.

 

Duncan Crow