The Biggest Reason You Should Never Drink Water Stored In Your Car

Many people use to store bottled water in their vehicles, particularly during the summer months. However, it is safer if you do the same practice using glass or stainless steel, as the plastic water bottles are related to many concerns, but are unfortunately the number one choice of the majority of the consumers.

Has it ever happened to you to find a lost water bottle on the floor of the car and quench your thirst, no matter how long the bottle had been there? Well, you are not the only one. Here is why this practice is bad.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has announced that when the temperatures outside range form 80 degrees to 100 degrees, the temperature inside the car parked in direct sunlight can rapidly increase to between 130 to 172 degrees. The highest scale on this range is even higher than the temperature of the most conventional ovens when set on ‘low’.

When it comes to heat-rise over time, it does not make any significant changes if the windows of the car are closed or partially open. Whatever the case, the temperature inside the car can increase for about 40 degrees within one hour, even the temperature outside is only 72 F degrees, a study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows.

There have not been widespread outbreaks of disease associated with the consumption of contaminated bottled water, but, nevertheless, bottled water can indeed contain microbes at levels capable of making an individual with a weak immune system sick. This water may contain bacteria that come either from the water source, or these bacteria can be introduced during the bottling process and then multiplied with even modest heat. However, let’s draw a line between the problem of microbes and the problem of plastic.

Plastic: Still A Serious Problem In Bottled Water

The University of Florida has carried out a study, looking at sixteen brands of bottled water. the results might throw a wrench in current FDA recommendations related to bisphenol A (or BPA) levels in the plastic water bottles.

The BPA is a hazardous chemical associated with numerous health concerns, ranging from digestive issues to issues with the development of the brain. Two billion products in the USA used on a daily basis were found to contain this chemical. This chemical is mostly dangerous for the development of the brain and the body, so children and pregnant women especially need to avoid contact with BPA.

Even though there are simple ways for anyone to avoid BPA, the government does not undertake any steps about releasing that information to the public. Numerous people are not familiar to the fact that exposure to this chemical as a fetus is carried throughout adulthood, and this is a great concern.

It has been said that the current levels of this chemical in the plastic are low and they have been deemed safe, a recent study has revealed that these supposedly harmless levels increase over a four-week period when left in 158-degree heat. the FDA has also warned people to keep hot or boiling liquids out of packaging that contains BPA, even if it is in traces, because of its reactivity with heat.

The material used for production of plastic water bottles is polyethylene terephthalate, a material that is being used for many food and beverage packaging because of the fact that it is lightweight, shatterproof and durable. Nevertheless, when exposed to heat, this material releases the chemical BPA which impacts the level of hormones in the body by mimicking estrogen, and may even lead to health risks if the person is exposed to high levels of it. At the beginning, the levels of BPA found in the sixteen brands did not exceed the EPA standards for these chemicals (with the exception of one brand). However, the scientists are worried about how the levels of these chemicals increased over time.

Some manufacturers have claimed that BPA has been replaced for other safer plastics. These companies that said that they have removed BPA or were just about to do so, did not reveal the substitutes they were using instead of the BPA, so it is blurry if the BPA-free products were using substances similar to BPA, likek bisphenol-S, which has been shown to exhibit similar health effects to the ones that BPA does.

The leader of the study, Lena Ma, for a press release has announced that if someone stores water for a long time, they should start worrying.

People should also know that re-using disposable plastic water bottles at any temperature can be dangerous if they are not adequately cleaned and dried. If a person ingests a buildup of pathogens, they can become sick, start vomiting or get diarrhea. However, this goes for other kinds of containers as well, not only for disposable water bottles.

To conclude, if you have stored a water bottle in your vehicle for an unspecified period of time, you should throw it out and use glass or stainless steel instead.

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Source: preventdisease.com