Do you drink bottled water?

Toxic mixture disguised as a healthy choice

The makers of the film Tapped expose the global bottled water industry as one of the biggest health cons of our time. Aside from the fact that we are all paying good money for something that is free, we are also damaging our health and contributing to the demise of the environment in the process!

In most cases, bottled water is packaged in plastic. The fact is that these plastic containers harbour a toxic chemical called Bisphenol A or BPA (a synthetic oestrogen), used to harden plastics. BPA is one of the world's most widely manufactured chemicals, with more than 2.2 million tons made each year.

Studies have shown that BPA increases sperm DNA damage in men and can also cause structural damage to the brain. It also increases fat formation and the risk of obesity, compromises your immunity, stimulates prostate cancer cell growth and causes hyperactivity.

Here's the real kicker: If you live in Europe or the US, it is highly likely that you have BPA in your system, since 90 per cent of Europeans and Americans have detectable amounts.

So far, Denmark is the first EU country to ban the BPA in food and drink containers for children under three, and Canada and three US states have already brought similar bans in to effect. Unfortunately, in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) insists that there is no evidence BPA is harmful...

Another member of the 'toxic plastic gang' that's lurking around in your water bottle is dioxin. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed dioxin as a human carcinogen which may contribute to the development of breast cancer and is highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

In a John Hopkins Hospital information leaflet, 'Cancer News from John Hopkins' they warn people not to freeze plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. The same applies for heating these water bottles. Leaving your water bottle on a car seat in the sun, can heat the plastic significantly enough to release dioxin into the water and ultimately into the cells of your body when you ingest it.

But that's not all, in the US, many bottled waters are simply bottled tap water, which may or may not have received any additional treatment. So you get a hit of fluoride along with BPA's and dioxins! Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co.'s Dasani bottled waters are both made of 'purified' water from public reservoirs, containing contaminants like disinfection by-products (DBPs), nitrate, industrial chemicals, arsenic and bacteria.

Now that's hardly a healthy beverage from a sustainable natural source!

High price for no benefits at all

Then there's the price! You pay on average £1 to £1.60 for a 340ml bottle of water, in the UK. However, when you turn on the tap, the water is free!

When you factor in the harmful chemicals in plastic bottles, the environmental impact of plastic waste and the pollution caused by plastic manufacturing plants, bottled water becomes a losing proposition no matter how you look at it.

In fact, the environmental harm bottled water causes alone should be a deciding factor. The bottled water industry threatens the water supplies of local communities by mining water from underground aquifers and natural springs. These natural sources of water serve nearby streams, wells and farms, but aggressive 'water mining' can easily dry them out... and once water is gone, life ends!

Is all of this really worth £1?

Filtering is better

Even though tap water is much more regulated than bottled water, it's still contaminated with fluoride (a toxic chemical that causes dental decay among other things) and disinfection by-products (DBPs) that also harm our health. But there is a way around this...

The best solution (for your health, the environment and the sustainability of our planet) is to install a home water filtration system. It may seem like an extravagant expense but if you consider how much you spend on bottled water, you'll realise that in the long run you'll be saving a lot of money whilst protecting your health and the environment.

Look for a home water filtration system that has three separate stages of contamination removal:

* Stage one removes sediment.
* Stage two removes chlorine and heavy metals.
* Stage three should be a heavy-duty carbon filter for removing hormones, drug residues, chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides.