Study Warns To Wash New Plastic Bottles Or Risk Sneaky BPA Exposure

Plastic bottles are a common sight and many people are likely to use them at some point. Risky plastics that contain BPA have been phased out due to their potential impact on health, but the problematic chemical can still make its appearance at times. That's according to a new study from The Ohio State University, which found that consumers should thoroughly wash new plastic bottles or risk exposure to the substance.

Many studies have linked the chemical BPA with a variety of potentially damaging health impacts, including everything from significant cardiovascular changes to hormone disruption, infertility, and fetal development changes. Because of this, the US, Canada, and Europe have various bans on the use of the substance and many companies choose BPA-free plastics for food and drink containers.

One such BPA-free plastic used for things like water bottles is called Tritan, but there's a chance you may still be exposed to BPA if you purchase one of these bottles. The issue, according to a new study from OSU Wexner Medical Center, is using these bottles without adequately washing them first.

Traces of BPA were discovered on some new plastic bottles sold as BPA-free in the US. Researcher Rebecca Holmes explained:

We believed that it likely was BPA contaminant on the surface of the bottle. I thought there is something here. I was thinking people are buying those bottles off the shelves, and they are taking them home and probably not washing them. They are using them so they are consuming BPA.

It seems that merely rinsing the new bottle out before using it isn't enough to remove the potential BPA contamination, with the study findings that multiple runs through a dishwasher were the ideal way to remove any traces of BPA that may linger. The researchers likewise noted that most of the BPA-free bottles they purchased and tested were truly free of the chemical.