Saturday, July 12, 2008

The Triangle Number Under Your Water Bottle

Are you guys aware that the triangle number under your water bottle actually means something? It tells us what type of material the plastic bottle was made of. And the recent studies suggested that the most popular hard, clear and durable plastic bottle that we used was made of Polycarbonate and one of the key components of this is the endocrine-disrupting bisphenol-A (BPA). BPA can leach into the liquid and making the water toxic and can cause breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men and some other illnesses. This bottle has numbered (3), (6) or (7) in the triangle. So, I would advice all my friends and family members to stop using any water bottle that has a number (3,6,7) under the bottle. The most common plastic bottle that we have seen everywhere has a number (7) in the triangle. I just threw away mine, all six of them. I know this bottle looks nice but it can kill also!

I guess the best re-usable water bottle would be one made from stainless steel as they don't leach any chemicals. But it can be expensive. The other is aluminum as it is BPA free and very reasonably priced. Other alternative is to look for water bottles that contained number (2) (high-density polyethylene), (4) (low-density polyethylene) and (5) (polypropylene) if it is plastic made.

If not, just drink from the glass or coffee cup. Use glasses while at home and only use the plastic water bottles with number (2), (4) and (5) in the triangle while going out. Number (1) water plastic bottle is safe to use but it was not meant to be re-used.


For updated information, click here. Looks like water bottle number (1) is safe for one time and repeated use, as long as you wash it with soap and dry it nicely each time after use.

12 comments:

Beachlover said...

thanks for the information:)sure check it out!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Yes L, please research about this!

The Lee Girls said...

I think it applies to all bottles with the number 3, 6 & 7, not just only number 7.

Cheers,
Angelia

daphne said...

yeah! I read about this a few years ago. We had doctor came in and he said pretty much the same thing. Better be safe than sorry.

Lia said...

i agreed water in the botle should not re used its contained toxin and danger for our life "i have trained for food safety recently"

Unknown said...

wow, thanks for the info, lemme chk all my water bottles at home

Ling's Passion said...

Thanks for sharing. Will the plastic water bottle from now on>

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks Angelia, I just included those numbers in my post. 3 and 6 are uncommon but it might be out there still.

That's right Daphne!

Lia, the package water bottle is for us to drink and throw.

You're welcome Rita, please do check!

You're welcome Ling.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info. Will definitely be more wary of which plastic bottles to be re-used now

Gauss Low said...

er... bro, have a look to this web page..

http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_mythbuster/sec.asp?CID=1986&DID=8372

Bottles With Plastic Recycling Numbers Below "5" Release Cancer-Causing Chemicals

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks for the link Gauss. I did say # 1, 2 & 4 are safe to use right and those numbers fell below 5. But now I know #1 is safe for repeated use also. I only said #7 can cause cancer and not the other because one of the components is BPA and can leach into the liquid. Now one of the major manufacturers of this bottle (Nalgene) has produce a bottle #7 without the BPA.

Gracie said...

OMG....we bought a couple of friends water bottles (Nalgene) and they regretfully asked if we knew they were the BAD numbers! I have always looked at the middle numbers (those all ALONE in the middle).....NOT those in the "triangle" area!! WRONG. What an eye-opener. My health problems are coming from my BAD numbered bottles I have used for MANY years. Thanks to this web-site and my friend for alerting me to the truth about "plastic bottles". I prefer GLASS for everything myself. BEWARE.