Does the reuse of PET bottles during solar water disinfection pose a health risk due to the migration of plasticisers and other chemicals into the water?

Study on the leaching of phthalates from polyethylene terephthalate bottles into mineral water

“…By investigating the phthalate concentration of water treated by solar disinfection, Schmid et al (2008) Like in the present study, this tendency was not unequivocally proven; the results depended on the type of bottle.…”

“…10/2011 as of 14 January 2011 does not authorize the use of phthalates for manufacturing food-contact materials, phthalates have been detected in PET material and in PET-bottled water. There are several possibilities for the occurrence of phthalates in bottled water such as: (i) quality of the raw material as well as the technology used in bottle production (Amiridou and Voutsa, 2011;Schmid et al, 2008) or perhaps chemicals used in the production process (Plotan et al, 2012, Wu et al, 2012); (ii) use of recycled PET (Bach et al, 2012); (iii) contamination of the water sources with decomposed plastic wastes of dumps (Baram et al, 2000); (iv) cross-contamination in the bottling factory as phthalates are ubiquitous in the environment (Biscardi et al, 2003;Higuchi et al, 2004;Leivadara et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2008); (v) cap sealing resins (Hirayama et al, 2001) may present contamination.…”

“…For this purpose, the most widespread used analytical technique is gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) (Biscardi et al, 2003;Bošnir et al, 2007;Cao, 2008;Fierens et al, 2012) characterized by excellent detection limits in the low pg mL -1 concentration range. A sample preparation step allowing pre-concentration of the investigated phthalate esters is required (Psillakis and Kalogerakis, 2003) (Amiridou and Voutsa, 2011;Ferretti et al, 2007 andFierens et al, 2011), dichloromethane and pentane (Leivadara et al, 2008), hexane (Holadova and Hajslova, 1995;Schmid et al, 2008), ethyl acetate (Criado et al, 2005) or acetone (Biscardi et al, 2003) seems to be one the best choices as recovery values ranged between 70-100% for the most frequently occurring phthalate esters. After pre-concentration, the resulting extracts are dried with anhydrous sodium sulphate, evaporated to 1-2 mL volume and analyzed by GC-MS.…”

“…Among phthalate esters occurring in soft drinks, DEHP is the most frequent and it can be determined in the highest concentration (Amiridou and Voutsa, 2011;Biscardi et al, 2003;Bošnir, et al, 2007;Schmid et al, 2008). DBP (Bošnir et al, 2007;Cao, 2008, Criado et al, 2005Montuori et al, 2008), DiBP (Cao, 2008;Fierens et al, 2012;Montuori et al, 2008) and DEP (Bošnir et al, 2007;Cao, 2008;Montuori et al, 2008) The phthalate concentration of PET bottled mineral water may vary with pH (Montuori et al, 2008); storage time (Biscardi et al, 2003;Criado et al, 2005), storage temperature (30 ºC -60 ºC) (Casajuana and Lacorte, 2003;Schmid et al, 2008) and exposure to sunlight (Leivadara et al, 2008;Schmid et al, 2008). Photolysis may be a significant pathway for abiotic degradation of phthalates in waters (Peterson, 2003).…”

Effect of storage temperature and sunlight exposure on the physicochemical properties of bottled water in Kurdistan region-Iraq

“…Outdoor sunlight irradiation has been studied for its effects on organic compounds leaching. Schmid et al (Schmid et al 2008) The decreasing of chloride ions (from 8.610 to 8.433 mg L -1 ) and fluoride ions (from 0.173 to 0.157 mg L -1 ) in bottled water sample can be suggested by occurring the chlorination and fluorination reaction during the sunlight exposure process. This suggestion is in agreement with the detection of toxic byproducts such as chloroform, bromodichloromethane, and haloacetic acids in bottled water by Beglen,T.H et al (Beglen,T.H et al 1989).…”