Urban legend:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/plasticbottles.asp
Source(s):
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/plasticbottles.asp

Permalink | Report

RUMORS AND WARNINGS ABOUT BOTTLED WATER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: A University of Idaho student's masters thesis found that reused plastic water bottles leach chemicals.

Reality: Not true, says the FDA. The student's tests were not subjected to peer or FDA review. The FDA has classified polyethylene terephthalate (PET) the material used in most disposable water bottles as meeting federal standards for food-contact materials.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: The plasticizer DEHA is a human carcinogen that can leach from the plastic bottles into the water, possibly causing cancer.

Reality: The plasticizer used in PET is diethlhexyladipate, not diethylhydroxylamine (DEHA). The American Cancer Society states, ''The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says DEHA cannot reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer . . . or other serious or irreversible chronic health effects.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: Freezing water releases dioxins in plastic bottles.

Reality: Plastics contain no dioxins, says Rolf Halden, assistant professor in the Department of Environment Health Sciences and the Center for Water and Health at Johns Hopkins. ''Freezing actually works against the release of chemicals,'' he adds. ''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.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: A University of Calgary study found coliform (typically from fecal matter) and heterotrophic (bacteria from the mouth) in 12 percent of 75 water bottles reused by elementary school children.

Reality: Yes, bacteria was present, but the study's author concluded that a lack of personal hygiene was to blame. The bottles and kids' hands were not properly cleaned before refilling.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: It's dangerous to drink water from a plastic bottle left in a hot car.

Reality: True, and the same goes for exposing an open water bottle to room temperature for too long, says Keith Christman, director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council's Plastics Division. ''You want to treat it as an opened food product container,'' he says. ''That's why many food products say 'refrigerate after use' because bacteria can grow in warm conditions.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claim: Lexan is a polycarbonate plastic, used in sports bottles such as Nalgene, that contains bisphenol A (BPA), which can cause chromosomal disruption, miscarriages, birth defects and obesity.

Reality: It depends on whom you ask. The Environment California Research & Policy Center notes that more than 130 studies found BPA at very low doses was linked to adverse health effects. Also, 38 leading scientific experts on BPA have called for more research because of those studies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source(s):
http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2007/9-11...

Permalink | Report

Didn't they once figure out that breathing air causes cancer?

Holding my breath on that one...
Permalink | Report

As the other answers note, this is an Urban Legend. I am only answering to add that all emailed warnings are Urban Legends. Real information is not passed around in chain letters. For people to pass around information like this it has to be sensational yet unknown. If it were a well known fact or not sensational people wouldn't forward the email. The reason these things are both sensational and unknown is that they are fictional. Real sensational things are well documented by legitimate media. In short, delete all such passed along emails without further consideration. However, personally I usually send fairly rude replies to whomever sent me the email, which usually gets them to stop.
Source(s):
http://www.snopes.com/

Permalink | Report

I am not an MD nor am I a PhD, but it may have to do with the sun/heat interacting with the compounds in the plastic!
Permalink | Report