Source: Natural News |
Bottled water contains more than 20,000 potentially hazardous chemicals |
|
If you think that bottled water is a much better choice than tap water, you are far from the truth.
Recent studies in Germany have shown that besides the already known BPA (bisphenol A), bottled water may contain over 20,000 other toxic chemicals.
Among them is diethylhexyl fumarate (DEHF) – a chemical that interferes with the human hormonal system.
The discovery was made by Martin Wagner and his colleague Jorg Oehlmann from Goethe University in Frankfurt, along with a team of researchers from the German Federal Institute of Hydrology.
Using the cutting-edge technology they studied 18 types of bottled water for the presence of chemicals that disrupt the performance of the endocrine system (EDC).
During their study, they have identified more than 24,520 different chemicals.
Among all the chemicals, the scientists were most concerned about the presence of DEHF – a chemical used to improve the flexibility of plastic bottles.
It was found out that this chemical caused the strongest anti-estrogen activity, which is very worrying.
Other trace chemicals also showed antagonistic activity, which means that they too interfere with the function of the endocrine system.
A published study explains that 13 of the 18 types of tested water showed significant anti-estrogenic activity.
In 16 of the 18 samples it was found that they block the androgen receptors in the body by a staggering 90 percent.
Plastic bottles are not safe for use
Scientists found several thousand chemicals harmful to our hormonal system in bottled water, which means that plastic is not safe to use (as we have been warning for a while now).
It is obvious that DEHF is not the only chemical that causes significant damage to the endocrine system, due to the fact that this chemical could not have been marked as the one having anti-androgenic effect.
This suggests that there is another chemical or combination of chemicals that are released into bottled water from plastic container that disrupt our hormonal function.
"Using authentic methods, we have confirmed the identity of the biological activity of DEHF and the additional isomers dioctyl fumarate and maleate" - the researchers reported.
"Given that DEHF is an anti-estrogen, but not anti-androgenic substance, we have concluded that there is an additional, still unidentified chemical that must contribute to the antagonistic effect of bottled water."
After these breakthroughs, we can conclude that further research on chemicals that are released from the plastic into our food and water, the scale of the problem and its impact on our health are needed.
Given the fact that government agencies are certainly not interested in this kind of research, independent science alone will simply have to take that role.
"This is just the beginning of identifying compounds that are found in packaging materials that disrupt the endocrine system." – said Bruce Blumberg from the University of California.
He adds that this type of analysis will be very important for our future understanding of what chemicals we are routinely exposed to, and which of them pose a threat to our hormonal system.
In the meantime, we recommend that you avoid plastic packaging as much as possible. Instead of plastic, use glass bottles for water.
Liked the article?
Share it with your friends!
