Most people who enjoy drinking bottled water believe that it’s safer than tap water. The bottled water companies play their part in creating this myth by decorating their labels with images of lakes and mountains, hinting that their water originates from glaciers or natural springs. But, the real truth is that the vast majority of bottled water brands don’t have better quality than tap water.
THE INTERESTING CASE OF AQUAFINA
The label of Aquafina which contains mountains has made people to believe that it originates directly from nature. However, PepsiCo recently admitted that it is nothing more than tap water, just like Dasani and Pure Life’s products. That’s why the label will change soon in order to clarify the fact that it originates from public sources.
It is also very important to know that the water that is used in these products goes through a seven-step process which removes minerals and other healthy ingredients commonly found in municipal water supply.
WHY THE COMPANIES HIDE THESE FACTS?
Statistically, more than half of all American citizens drink bottled water, and approximately 36% drink it more than once a week. The big companies capitalize on the fact that most people believe that tap water is undrinkable. So today, the bottled water is an industry worth 13 billion dollars per year just in the USA. It is one of the most profitable industries since water is inexpensive and doesn’t require multiple ingredients and processes like soda. When it comes to water, filtering is the only thing that needs to be done.
LOWER QUALITY THAN TAP WATER
The frequent testing of public water supplies is a very common practice in most cities. For example, Canadian city Ottawa conducts more than 125,000 water quality tests per year. Another good example is the city of Toronto, where water samples are tested for more than 300 potentially harmful chemicals every 4 to 6 hours.
However, the bottled water in Canada is not a subject to the same strict testing because it is classified as a food and falls under the Food and Drugs Act. It has specific limits on well-known contaminants like lead, arsenic, lead and coliform bacteria but there are no regulations regarding other harmful chemicals. This situation is very similar to the one in the USA, where the producers of bottled water are not required to disclose as much information as municipal water utilities due to lack of quality regulations by federal authorities. In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration monitors the manufacturing of bottled water, even though it doesn’t possess the regulatory authority of EPA, which is in charge of tap water.
According to the Center for Disease Control: “although the bottled water outbreaks are not often reported, they still occur from time to time”. These contaminants usually include bacterial or chemical contaminants.
THE HARMFUL SUBSTANCES IN BOTTLED WATER
Recently, Fox News reported about a German study where the researchers found almost 25,000 chemicals in a single bottle of water. Some of the detected chemicals are well-known endocrine disruptors like maleates and fumarates. A prolonged exposure to these chemicals can cause harmful side-effects such as:
- Early puberty
- Infertility
- Premature birth
- Early menopause
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Cancer
In addition to this, some bottles still contain BPA, which is known to cause low sperm count, enlarged prostate glands, hormonal imbalance, pre-cancerous changes in the prostate and breasts, as well as obesity and insulin resistance.
It was also found that some of the bottled water brands are full of other endocrine disruptors such as estrogenic, antiestrogenic, and antiandrogenic chemicals.
So, in order to avoid this mixture of hormone-disrupting chemicals with very serious side effects, we recommend you to filter your tap water at home and use a glass bottle.
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