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Following up on our story from July/August issue, "Time to Rethink Tap Water?", California takes action. Bottled Water and Women's Reproductive Hormones By Jon Dougal Ever since the rumors of Perrier bottled water being filled from NY city tap water were aired in the 70's, I have been skeptical of the claims of bottled water being better than tap water. I have followed the claims made by many bottlers and with the exception of distilled water; don't attribute much credit to their claims. Some claim to have removed all the minerals and added back just the best ones. Some claim to have an excess of Selenium that cures dread diseases. Come to think of it doesn't Selenium contribute to birth defects and aren't there whole areas of the California Central valley that are off limits because of the high Selenium content in the water? In an article in the LA Times, September 27, 2007, “Source of water would be clear under new law, A bill on the governor's desk spells out what bottlers must disclose about their H2O” by Marc Lifsher, he depicts the new thinking towards bottled water claims. Just like vitamins and face creams, the contents of the bottle will need to be listed and be accurate. I think the potential for the bottled water to have a label mandated by law (at least in California) is probably a good one. The label would have to be 3rd party verified contents and this would help my belief that what they say is in the water is actually there. Can anything else be in the water that isn't on the label? You bet your sweet bippie there can be. What the labels won't tell you because the bottle manufacturers are not required to tell you, is that their flexible water bottles place an endocrine inhibitor in the water by accident, not on purpose mind you. This is true of all PET plastic soda bottles as well. It seems that the plasticizers that make the bottles crinkly soft and pliable also “off-gas” a component into the drinking water called 'phthalates.” This is a class of chemicals that even in very low doses make your body (listen up woman) go into endocrine over load. While there is some hard science to back this data up, many hospital chains and medical organizations have asked to ban soft plastics from the professional healing environment. Beware the bottle in which you drink. Go buy a stainless steel drinking bottle to carry around with you and fill it from the sink. |
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