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Fictitious Email
Perhaps you have heard about, or even seen, an email circulating on the internet with regards to the safety of re-using plastic bottles. The email reads like this, “Many are aware of poisoning caused by re-using plastic bottles,” and it goes on to say “bottles are safe for one time use only; if you must keep them longer, it should be no more than a few days, a week max, and keep them away from heat as well.” The email states the bottles contain DEHA, which it calls a potential carcinogen. It has even bee reported that there is a newer email which quotes an unidentified doctor saying women shouldn’t drink bottled water that has been left in a car because the heat and the plastic of the bottle have certain chemicals which can lead to breast cancer.
We would like to give you the facts, as reported on the American Cancer Society website.
Fact:
These emails are apparently based on a student’s college thesis. In fact, DEHA is not inherent in the plastic used to make these bottles, and even if it was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says DEHA “cannot reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer, teratogenic effects, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, gene mutations, liver, kidney, reproductive, or developmental toxicity or other serious or irreversible chronic health effects.” Meanwhile, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), says diethylhexyl adipate “is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans.”