Bottled Water

In high school I was a part of a group called the Watershed Project. In this group we would run tests on water from different streams and rivers and determine the water quality. After the tests were run we would try to come up with ways that would make the water less polluted and better quality. Since then I have had a personal boycott of bottled water. I think its just stupid to spend my money on something that you can get for free. From taking bio 230 I also know that plastic water bottles are made from oil and they can only be recycled a certain number of times before they cant be reused. After looking on the internet I have found yet another reason to avoid plastic water bottles, the health risks.

Plastic water bottles contain a chemical called bisphenol A and a recent study at Harvard University and by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drinking water from plastic bottles increases the levels of this chemical in the body by 70%. This chemical, a necessary ingredient in plastic that makes it hard and transparent, also disrupts hormonal systems in the human body. This can lead to increased chances of reproductive defects, brain damage, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. This has an increased effect on infants and small children, which is even more of an issue when you consider that many food containers and bottles are made with a plastic that contains the same chemical, bisphenol A.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027236_BPA_health_disease.html



http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/greenberg/archives/2008/02/bottled_water.html