Plastic water bottles: safe or not?

[Chris Chung]

David,

I can understand you being passionate about your beliefs but having read numerous post by Sarah and the countless others here who share their opinions and knowledge, there is always a cordial exchange even with differing points of view.
Accusing Sarah of being in cahoots with "the man" is a bit of a stretch and the tone in which you did was harsh IMO (for what its worth).

Anyhow..

I did some research last year on plastics after reading a scientific paper on BPA given to me by a good friend and fellow molecular biologist.

I wanted to use "safer" plastics and this is the info I was able to gather.

I think most of you are aware that there is a triangle with a number in it at the bottom of every plastic bottle to denote the type of plastic.

1 = PET (polyethylene) your common everyday water/soda bottles you buy.
2 = HDPE (high denisty polyethylene)
3 = PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
4 = LDPE (low denisty polyethylene)
5 = Polypropylene
6 = PS/PS-E (polystyrene)
7 = PC (Polycarbonate) & Other (not 1-6) those nice colorful nalgene bottles that leech BPA.

1,2,4,5 were ok to use.
5 was the best of the lot.
3,6,7 have been associated with negative health effects.

[Author]

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