Claim:
Reusing, freezing, or heating plastic water bottles will
cause them to break down into carcinogenic compounds or release
dioxins.
Examples:
[Collected via
e-mail, 2007]
No water bottles in freezer. A
dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are
highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your
plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the
plastic. [Collected via e-mail,
2007]
Do Not Drink Water Bottles Left in the Car
This information was given to me by my husband and I know
all the ladies in my life should know and please forward it to all
the ladies in your life.
My husband has a friend whose
mother recently got diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctor told
her women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a
car. The doctor said that the heat and the plastic of the bottle
have certain chemicals that can lead to breast cancer. So please be
careful and do not drink that water bottle that has been left in a
car and pass this on to all the women in your life. [Collected via e-mail,
2009]
On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said this is
what caused her breast cancer. It has been identified as the most
common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.
Sheryl Crow's oncologist told her: women should not drink bottled
water that has been left in a car. The heat reacts with the
chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into
the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer
tissue. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has
been left in a car. Pass this on to all the women in your life.
Origins: Sorting out the various
claims made about potential health issues associated with
plastic
water bottles is a difficult process, both because so many different
claims are being circulated and because the generic term "plastic
bottle" can in fact refer to any one of several different types of
bottles with distinctly different chemical properties.
Water, soda, and juice are typically sold in bottles made
from polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE. These
containers are intended to be disposable, single-use bottles,
although many consumers wash them and re-use them to hold drinking
water (or other beverages). One common claim referenced above is
that freezing or re-using PET bottles releases
"dioxins" into whatever liquids they may contain, but of this claim
Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. Rolf Halden says:
Q: What do you
make of this recent email warning that claims dioxins can be
released by freezing water in plastic bottles?
A: This is an
urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition,
freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals
do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit
chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don't
think there are.
Another common type of plastic bottle
is made with bisphenol A, also known as BPA. These
products are typically rigid plastic bottles intended for multiple
re-use, such as baby bottles or water bottles carried
by cyclists. Concerns about tests that may link BPA ingestion with cancer and reproductive
damage in some animals and the possibility that BPA could leach out
of plastic bottles and into the liquids they contain has led to bans
in some areas on the use of BPA in plastic products intended for
children (such as baby bottles), and has prompted some consumers to
seek out non-BPA alternatives.
Last updated: 8 April 2009
The URL for this
page is
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/plasticbottles.asp
