Antimony in your Bottled Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.24.06
William Shotyk, a Canadian scientist working at the University of Heidelberg, studied 132 brands of bottled water stored for six months, and found significant levels of the toxic metal antimony had leached out of the PET bottles into the water. Levels approached 2,000 parts per trillion, which is the Japanese limit for drinking water. (in Canada it's 6000) "It's increasing over time because (the plastic) is leaching chemicals," said Shotyk in an interview during a recent visit to Ottawa, where he lectured on his findings.Antimony, beloved of alchemists, is a white metallic element that in small doses can cause nausea, dizziness and depression. "Antimony is similar chemically to lead. It is also a potentially toxic trace element," said Shotyk. He is now studying the bottles over a longer term. "If you bottle water in Europe and ship it to Asia, what is the antimony concentration in that water by the time somebody buys that water and drinks it?" ::Edmonton Sun
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Conferences, Stop Giving Bottled Water to Speakers! That’s the Next Challenge
- Cancer-Linked Contaminants in Bottled Water Says EWG
- Emissions from Soil Organic Carbon Not as Bad as Previously Thought
- Greenlanders See Independence and Natural Riches as the Upside of Climate Change
Okay, then, can we get a list of the bottled waters tested and the levels of whatever is in them?
Doesn't the FDA demand that all of the bottled water in the U.S. be certified as being within certain limits with regards to levels of metals, etc.? And just how does a metal like antimony get into the plastic bottle???
I like to re-use glass voss bottles for my water
I am curious whether this means that water left in a bottle for a long time will absorb lots of leached antimony, but, say, filling a bottle with water and drinking it within a few hours is relatively benign, or if the bottle becomes increasingly likely to pass the substance into water as the bottle ages, regardless of how long the consumed water occupied it.
Antimony trioxide is used as a catalyst in manufacture of the bottles (its main use however is as a fire retardant additive to other plastics outside the bottling industry).
As I understand things, the professor cited did his study to validate the purchasing of bottled water on the open market as a sampling mechanism, so that investigators would not literally have to travel all over the world taking water samples to look for metals. Obviously his results indicate that approach would not be valid for certain species. Note that some metals may be sorbed from the water into the polymer and others leached from the polymer into the water over time.
It would be wise to compare the cited levels to what is found in your exisiting tap water before becoming too excited.
As to dangers posed at the levels detected, don't expect any new probes from FDA or USEPA and their respective shadow agencies in Canada. The EU has an open dossier for the characterization of antimony as a human health hazard, however.
One thing that needs to be mentioned is the fact that we consume all kinds of man made chemicals everyday, and we really dont knnow how all these chemicals react when they get together in our bodies. Its quite well known we have many different chemicals floating around in our systems and the need to reduce this amount should really be thought about. If you can avoid ingesting a chemical then you should. Drink water thats been filtered from a stainless steel or other non leaching container. It not that difficult to do that...