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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Oh sweetheart, put the bottle down

Posted Friday, July 10, 2009, at 10:06 AM

It's been so long ago that I don't really remember when or how I became a confirmed water drinker. Maybe it was when I gave up soda for Lent several years ago, or perhaps when I won a water bottle one summer at high school band camp. Or maybe it was when I learned that drinking more water helps you maintain a healthy weight.

Regardless, now I don't go anywhere without my stainless steel water bottle -- I recently switched from my beloved Nalgene because of concerns about the chemical found in many plastic bottles called bisphenol A, which can mimic the female hormone estrogen and often leaches into the bottle's contents. I almost always order water at restaurants as well because I've found that drinking anything else is just not as thirst quenching.

In my somewhat-extensive travels, I have been to several places where tap water was unsafe to drink due to poor sanitation practices or aging pipes. It made me cringe to buy bottle after bottle of water, especially as I wasn't always able to recycle them. When my mother and I traveled in India, we brought water purification tablets to use instead, in an attempt to offset our carbon footprints at least a little.

News reports in the past few days have increased my concern over the vast consumption of bottled water in the U.S. and other countries. Of course, I am thrilled that people are drinking water, but I am not at all happy about the way they are doing it. Some interesting facts from www.goodguide.com:

-- Producing the bottles for the annual U.S. consumption of bottled water requires the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil.

-- Bottling this water produces more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.

-- It takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water.

By all reports, bottled water is not necessarily any better than tap water here in the U.S. It is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which does not require that companies disclose information about where the water comes from and how it is purified -- even local governments must publish quality reports about their water supplies. And the cost? According to Katie Couric of CBS News, Americans spent $16 billion on bottled water in 2008.

Recently the rural Australian town of Bundanoon issued a citywide ban on the sale of bottled water, and it is not the only municipality concerned with this issue. A couple of years ago, the mayors of both Salt Lake City and San Francisco banned the use of city funds to buy bottled water. I don't know if prohibition is necessarily the answer -- I probably won't take an axe to every bottled water vending machine I see -- but for everyday use, ditch the bottle (preferably by recycling it) and turn on the tap!


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This stuff was originally produced as a synthetic hormone in 1936. They knew what it does and still put it in the plastic. Why does it seem like there is still a news blackout of it's known dangers?

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/env...

Bisphenol A Overview

"Originally produced for use as a synthetic hormone in 1936, today bisphenol A (BPA) is manufactured in excess of six billion pounds per year. BPA is most commonly used as the building block of polycarbonate plastic for products such as baby bottles and water bottles, epoxy resins (coatings that line food containers), and white dental sealants. It is also an additive in other types of plastic used to make children's toys.

Children are Most at Risk

Growing children are particularly at risk to chemicals in their environment because they face greater exposure per pound of body weight and are physiologically more susceptible to them.(2) Children's exposures begin at conception, as chemicals, including BPA, cross the placenta in a pregnant woman's body (3) and can affect the embryo or fetus during critical periods of development. Even after birth, children's bodies remain immature, with underdeveloped detoxification mechanisms to protect them from BPA as well as drugs. Their brains and other organ systems are constantly developing, undergoing periods of particular sensitivity to damage or disruption. Especially because growing children are particularly at risk from BPA exposure and adverse effects on intellectual ability, social behaviors, fertility, and potential for disease may take decades to detect, precautionary measures must be taken to protect children from exposure to products containing BPA that they use everyday."

-- Posted by Third Child on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 7:30 PM

what is that smell?

-- Posted by SecretAgentMichaelScarn on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 7:32 PM

http://www.saferstates.com/2008/09/bishp...

A number of studies have found BPA to be linked to cancer, heart disease, obesity, reproductive failures and hyperactivity in laboratory animals. Bisphenol A is a hormone disrupting chemical and as such can have health effects at extremely low exposure levels. Health concerns include:

Brain development: Laboratory animals exposed before birth show impaired learning, increased aggression, hyperactivity, and less maternal behavior when the females have their own offspring.

Reproductive development: Laboratory studies have found exposure before birth has lasting effects on levels of reproductive hormones, and causes early onset of sexual maturation in female offspring. It leads to decreased levels of testicular testosterone, greater prostate size, and decreased sperm production in laboratory animals. Decreased testosterone and sperm production have also been seen when adult animals are exposed to bisphenol A.

Miscarriage and Down's syndrome: Laboratory mice exposed to bisphenol A had greater rates of chromosomal misalignments, responsible for Down's syndrome and a significant portion of miscarriages.

Diabetes and obesity: Adult mice exposed to bisphenol A developed insulin resistance, which is a condition that impairs the body's ability to regulate blood sugar and can lead to diabetes and obesity. A 2008 study in people found that adults with greater exposure to bisphenol A had higher incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Cancer: Laboratory research has found that exposure to bisphenol A alters mammary gland and prostate gland development in ways that could predispose to later cancer.

On December 2, 2007, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story after reviewing 258 research papers and finding that a large majority of those studies showed BPA was harmful to lab animals. According to Journal Sentinel reporters, those studies that didn't find harm overwhelmingly were paid for by the chemical industry.

-- Posted by Third Child on Fri, Jul 10, 2009, at 7:35 PM

Anyone that is still using plastic bottles after reading about BPA has their head stuck in the sand, or the clouds, or one other place.

A warning label such as is on tobacco products should be on any product containing BPA.

Good job Sidney, and the same to ND, and TC.

-- Posted by Oklahoma Reader on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 1:42 AM

"A warning label such as is on tobacco products should be on any product containing BPA."

The FDA, the EPA, the MDA, and every other supposed health and enviornmental group knows what this stuff does and have known for many decades, just like they know that putting fluoride in the water is giving people cancer and actually DAMAGING teeth at the same time!

People need to be prosecuted for this and local officials responsible for it need to be put on notice..

They know what they are doing. There are hundreds of different forms of plastics that could be used to make all the crap. If you think this stuff comes about by blundering idiots as an accident you've probably been drinking fluoridated water out of plastic bottles too long.

Go into a drug store and look at the bottled water. Water for babies, Now Fortified with Fluoride! New and improved ways to rid the planet of Henry Kissinger's and Margaret Sangor's useless eaters.

It doesn't stop there. High fructose corn syrup, aspartame, MSG, bovine growth hormones, pesticides and yes, genetically modified FRANKENFOODS! The list goes on. These are no accidents. The FDA knows and is there as an enabler to the multinational conglomerates to cover up their crimes against humanity.

Then we get into the bioweapons labs that are proliferating in every state in the country. Local entities and governments are clamoring to get these things in their communities for the jobs, jobs, tax revenues.. Baxter Pharmaceutical was caught red handed shipping activated live virus to 18 European countries. It would have been virtually impossible for this to have been a mistake. If this had not been caught, those vaccinated would have been the incubation and mutation vessels that would produce the horrible death machine the World Health Organization is clammoring for.. The plan is there for global government, forced vaccinations, mass evacuation and quarantine of the public, all decided by the WHO under the arm of the United Nations.. this is the global control beast system..

The drills, the 'accidents'.. the plans are in your face. The elite want us dead. They give us bread and circus while they 'soft kill' us with chemicals and bioweapons. They train us to line up and beg for the shots that they so lovingly prepare in Baxter's bioweapons labs.. Give us more fluoride please.. my dog isn't dead yet and grandma died of pneumonia, not that broken hip that put her in the hospital..

Let's all have a mercury laced GMO high fructose carbonated fluoride beverage and turn on the boob tube for another brainwash session on how we live in the happiest best fed and educated place on earth..

It's time to get educated and time to get mad.

Wake up your neighbors, you need them to get mad. We're about out of time to turn this around and it is going to take all of us. Change is possible if everyone just knows what the issues really are and it is not CO2 that is destroying the planet.

That hokus pokus revenue scheme is hijacking the enviornmentalist movement and misdirecting their energy and attention away from the real issues they SHOULD be facing instead. Yes, let's impoverish ourselves with a tax on breathing while the corporations continue killing us off by starvation and toxins.. that's real green ain't it?

Time is running out people. We are the ones we are waiting for. Don't give any more generations of our children over to these vampires..

-- Posted by Third Child on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 9:49 AM

Third Child,

You are going to be really surprised when you die of "nothing."

Yes, no matter what you rid the world of - we are all going to die someday.

For you, I'm afraid it might be high blood pressure from all your ranting.

-- Posted by judgmental bast*** on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 2:41 PM

"no matter what you rid the world of - we are all going to die someday"

One thing I know I won't die of is a slave mentality. You, I'm not so sure..

-- Posted by Third Child on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 3:35 PM

If you don't like what the government has done, then I suggest you dig your own well, get off the grid and raise your own food.

I for one like the benefits of fluoride, my children don't have a mouthful of cavities - which by the way would cause them problems in their adult life. The problems I have.

We live in a majority run country, since when did the loud minority start ruling?

-- Posted by judgmental bast*** on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 5:03 PM

A high percentage of bottled waters are simply reformulated and filtered water from whatever municipality the bottling plant is in.

Sometimes, while traveling it is your only option. Even there be cautious. Once while traveling in Greece, our group was dining in a rural taverna. Big bottles of water were on each table. I thought it was rather murky looking. Didn't drink it myself and urged others to avoid it. (Beer and wine were available). Those who did drink it, had stomach distress the next day.

-- Posted by upsedaisy on Sat, Jul 11, 2009, at 8:13 PM

"I for one like the benefits of fluoride"

You have been lied to and brainwashed to believe that sodium fluoride is beneficial to dental health. It actually has been proven otherwise. In addition, it has been proven extreemly harmful to overall health.

You need to do some homework if you really care about the health and well being of your children. Here is a good place to start:

http://www.holisticmed.com/fluoride/

-- Posted by Third Child on Sun, Jul 12, 2009, at 11:31 AM

it's what plants crave!

-- Posted by SecretAgentMichaelScarn on Fri, Jul 17, 2009, at 4:55 PM

"it's what plants crave!"

Is this an attempt to be funny or are you just confused about the subject being discussed?

You were correct, to a certain extent, if you were talking about CO2 but this thread is about bisphenal A plastics that chemically effeminate the populace, among other things..

I think it would be good to start a combined thread that dealt with myriad health and ecological issues, not just single items. They are all connected as we are the targets of combined chemical and biological attacks. This is no joke. People that think it's funny are uneducated or ignorant and just masking their fear of the truth. I would like to see some honest discussion on these issues. The future of our children is at stake and what I'm seeing isn't very funny.

-- Posted by Third Child on Sat, Jul 18, 2009, at 10:44 AM

Hey Sydney!

I love your blog.

Happy Olympics Day! It's 22:00 Aug 8th here in Beijing.

Currently I don't have access to Facebook, so write to me at appyear596@yahoo.com.cn.

Love,

Shawna

-- Posted by Shawna on Sat, Aug 8, 2009, at 9:03 AM

And also, check the Mojobeijing.wordpress.com. :)

-- Posted by Shawna on Sat, Aug 8, 2009, at 9:36 AM


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Little Town Blues Goes to China
SYDNEY STONNER
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Something about music. Something about small towns. Something about Hong Kong. Or maybe something else entirely.

Sydney is a former staff writer for the Democrat-News. She received degrees from University of Missouri in both music and magazine journalism. She played oboe with the Marshall Philharmonic Orchestra and the Marshall Municipal Band while she was in Marshall.

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