Tegengif (EraseAllToxinsFoundation) wanted to conduct research on the safety of reusable plastic drinking bottles. The Spronck Foundation made a donation to make this research possible. “Many children go to school every day with a plastic drinking bottle. We know that plastics contain chemicals. But we wanted to investigate whether those chemicals are released, so we know what children are actually ingesting,” says Annelies den Boer, director of the Tegengif Foundation. “That’s why we didn’t just investigate the plastic bottle itself, but also the liquid inside the bottle. And because many people put their plastic bottles in the dishwasher, we also had the liquid tested after several dishwasher cycles. In more than half of the bottles, Di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP) was found to be released after dishwashing. Before dishwashing, this chemical leaked from only one bottle. The research also shows that the concentration of DIBP increased the longer the liquid remained in the bottle.”
Reusable plastic drinking bottles for children leak chemicals, according to research by McGill University commissioned by the Tegengif Foundation. The TV program Radar will cover the researchers’ findings on May 27. They examined 39 types of water bottles from the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Czech Republic, and Lithuania to see which chemicals ended up in the liquid. In more than half, the harmful plasticizer DIBP was found. Children ingest this when they drink from the bottle.
Here is a link to the full report.
