Dioxin - In Water Bottles or Food?

Happy Sunday Everyone!  OK, I decided to do a little research after reading a facebook post (myth) about plastic water bottles, UGHG! ERRRR! I have a real dislike for plastic water bottles. I believe we are all entitled to safe drinking water for FREE and those little bottles drive me crazy. Nothing would please me more than to phase them out due to a health risk, but that is another post.

Does this look familiar?

For this post, I will not use my own words, but rather site some articles from trusted sources.

First, debunking the water bottle myth, you can learn more about other circulated myths HERE or from SNOPES:

Cancer myth: Plastics used for food storage and cancer

(pdf 140kb)

Origin of the myth

Recently, several emails were forwarded warning that Sheryl Crowe had developed breast cancer by leaving her bottle of water in the car. The email claims that plastic bottles and food containers contain chemicals called dioxins which cause reproductive and developmental problems, liver damage and cancer.

Current evidence

Dioxins are organic environmental pollutants released by burning of waste, especially
PVC and aromatic compounds commonly used in hospitals. These dioxins, after being
released into the atmosphere, are taken up by fish and animals and stored in fat.
People are exposed to dioxins most by eating meat and fish that is high in fat.

 But should we be concerned about ingesting the Dioxin in the first place:

Frequently Asked Questions About Dioxin and Food from an article CHEJ _ Center for Health, Environment & Justice. You can read the entire article HERE

1) Should I be worried about the levels of dioxin in the food supply?

Yes, but just as you should be concerned about eating a healthy diet. The levels of dioxin in our food

Are a concern, especially for nursing infants and young children. The U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) needs to do more to reduce industrial emissions of dioxins and to reduce the

Levels of dioxin in food fed to animals as part of large industrial animal operations (see Question

#13 below). In the meantime, we can greatly reduce individual exposure by following the Federal Dietary Guidelines and reducing the intake of saturated fat by choosing meat and dairy products that are lean, low fat, or fat free, and by increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain products.

2) How does dioxin get into our food?

Nearly all of us are exposed to dioxin by eating meat and dairy products.

According to EPA over 90% of human exposure to dioxin occurs through our diet. Dioxin is most prevalent in meat, fish, dairy, and other fatty foods. Our exposure begins as crops are contaminated by airborne dioxins settling onto plants, which cows and other animals eat. The exposures are compounded when animals are given fat-laden feed contaminated with dioxin. At each step, dioxin accumulates in the fat portion of the animal. We then ingest dioxin by eating meat and dairy.

Notice the highest source of Dioxins ingested come from meat, dairy and fish? Well, it ain't necessarily so:

And if you would like to know more about Dioxin from Dr. Greger's AMAZING review of real published studies, click HERE.

Conclusion, Dioxin is a chemical we should be concerned about, but water bottles left in hot cars are not the source nor the reason for concern. Its our FOOD SUPPLY; Meat, Dairy, and Eggs in particular which we should eliminate or seriously limit if we would like to avoid such chemicals.

Sláinte!