Doctors are urging people to rethink their preference for bottled water over the stuff from the tap.
Research shows up to 80 percent of bottled water on the market today contains microplastics and other substances linked to cancer, fertility problems, developmental delays in children, and metabolic disorders like diabetes.
Tap water in developed countries like the US and UK, meanwhile, is far safer to drink given it’s subject to ‘rigorous quality and safety standards’, the doctors from Qatar said.
Discarded bottles may also indirectly harm our health, by leaking toxic ‘forever chemicals’ into soil and water, poisoning animals and getting into our food.
In a paper published in the prestigious journal BMJ Global Health, the conclude that, contrary to popular belief, the safer option is tap water.
According to the International Bottled Water Association, Americans drink some 15 billion gallons of bottled water each year—around 45 gallons per person.
The doctors, from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar, also highlighted how the process of buying, disposing or recycling plastic bottled water also leads to the release of methane and greenhouse gases which fuel global warming.
Writing in the paper, they said: ‘The reliance on [bottled water] incurs significant health, financial and environmental costs, calling for an urgent re-evaluation of its widespread use.’
The EPA standards for tap water are stricter than the FDA standards for bottled water.
An estimated 10 to 78 percent of bottled waters sampled contain microplastics, particles smaller than five millimeters, which damage the body’s endocrine system, which regulates human hormones, potentially leading to fertility issues, developmental delays, and ovarian cancer.
They can also inflame cells in the lungs and digestive tract, potentially leading to chronic respiratory diseases like asthma, irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease, chronic heart disease, and hardening of the arteries.
Bottled water also leeches PFAS, or forever chemicals, into the water. When PFAS enter the body, they settle in the bloodstream, kidneys, and the liver.
A 2007 estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the total share of Americans with PFAS in their blood at a staggering 98 percent.
Some varieties of PFAS have been shown to increase levels of LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol that contributes to plaque buildup in the arteries, slowly blocking blood flow in the arteries which greatly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Prolonged exposure to PFAS – which is not out of the realm of possibility given its constant presence in homes – can severely damage the liver.
Bottled water also contains phthalates (used to make plastics more durable) and bisphenol A (BPA).
Phthalates and BPA are hormone disruptors as well, with ties to breast cancer, diabetes, reproductive and developmental issues, heart disease and chronic respiratory issues, behavioral problems, and ADHD in children.
The Qatari doctors said: ‘While there are short-term safety thresholds, the long-term effects of these contaminants remain largely unknown.’
The Environmental Working Group, a watchdog entity, tested 10 brands of bottled water produced by Walmart and Giant supermarkets and found 38 different pollutants, including disinfection byproducts, industrial chemicals, radioactivity, and bacteria.
Some of the detected chemicals have been associated with health issues, such as cancer and methemoglobinemia (also known as blue baby syndrome). Two tested brands even had a chemical profile identical to municipal tap water, making them indistinguishable from regular faucet water.
This wasn’t the first analysis to find issues with bottled water. Texas scientists evaluated 35 bottled water brands and found that four were contaminated with bacteria. And in 1999, the Natural Resources Defense Council tested 103 bottled waters and found contaminants such as microbes and regulated chemicals in around half.
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