A Little Extra Something in Your Bottled Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.20.06
Here is another reason to stop drinking bottled water: Antimony. Cameron Smith of the Toronto Star reports that 90% of PET bottles commonly used for water use antimony trioxide as a catalyst. It's a suspected carcinogen. Professor William Shotyk tested well water and bottled water from the same source and found big disparities in the antimony levels. Furthermore in bottles stored three months, the antimony levels doubled, indicating that it is leaching out of the bottles into the water. Levels are way below US and Canadian guidelines, but as Cam asks: "Should people abstain from water and pop bottled in PET containers until it's established there's no risk to health?"
::The Star
According to CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks, there are Japanese bottle companies that are using titanium instead of antimony. Titanium, being insoluable, is a much better alternative. What can we as consumers do to get the bottle manufacturers to switch?
Found one company that has had success with titanium as opposed to other heavy metals.