Plastic drinking bottles for children contain harmful phtalate
Reusable plastic drinking bottles for children leak chemicals, according to research by McGill University commissioned by Stichting Tegengif. The researchers examined 39 types of bottles from the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, the Czech Republic and Latvia to establish which chemicals migrate into the liquid content. Twenty-two of the 39 bottle types were shown to leach DIBP.
“Many children go to school every day with a plastic drinking bottle. We know that plastics contain chemicals, but we wanted to investigate whether these chemicals are also released into the liquid content so that we know what children are actually ingesting” said Annelies den Boer, Director of the Tegengif Foundation. “That is why we did not have the plastic bottle itself tested, but the liquid in the bottle. And because many people put their plastic bottle in the dishwasher, we also had the liquid tested after a number of dishwashing rounds.”
DIBP
The study (PDF) lead by the Tegengif Foundation in the Netherlands, in collaboration with five European NGOs – Forbrugerrådet Tænk Kemi (Denmark), Arnika (Czech Republic), Zero Waste Latvija (Latvia), Zero Waste Europe, and Rezero (Spain) – found that plastic drinking bottles for children leached diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), a banned chemical additive of plastics, known to disrupt hormones and damage reproduction and the development of the unborn foetus. DIBP concentrations increased the longer the liquid was in the bottle, indicating that dishwashing has an effect on the release of chemicals.
“While the detected amounts of DIBP were below the European limit, the mere presence of this substance in children’s products is alarming” said Annelies den Boer. DIBP is just one of many “everywhere chemicals” that can be found in toys (pdf) and other plastic products (in Danish), clothing and floor coverings. Phthalate plasticisers are also widely found in children’s urine across Europe: 17% of European children and adolescents risk harm from combined exposures to multiple phthalates, according to the Human biomonitoring for Europe (HBM4EU).
Regulatory gap
DIBP is not authorized for intentional use in plastic food contact materials, but since its use in the production of plastics is so common, its migration from plastics into food in low concentrations is legally accepted. “This is a regulatory gap. We urge the European Commission to end this unclear and undesirable situation by placing and enforcing a total ban on DIBP in plastics. This will stimulate producers to substitute the use or avoid the presence of DIBP” said den Boer.
The study also uncovered another troubling finding: only a small fraction of the hundreds of chemicals leaching from the bottles could be identified, leaving parents and experts in the dark about what these substances are and what harm they may cause. “This means we don’t know which substances these are and what they do. Plastics have become a black box” pointed out den Boer. “We simply don’t know what our children are being exposed to.”
Opt for stainless steel or glass
Tegengif advises consumers to exercise caution when using plastics, especially when it comes to children. “Reusable plastic drinking bottles are better than disposable bottles, but if your reusable plastic bottle needs replacing, opt for stainless steel or glass. If you choose to continue using plastic drinking bottles for the time being, refresh the water in the bottle regularly and wash the bottle by hand instead of putting it in the dishwasher. This way your child will ingest fewer harmful substances.”
