Monday, March 16, 2009

First they came for BPA...

but I didn't use BPA so I didn't stop them. Then they came for PET...

From Science News: "Bottled mineral water may deliver more than a no-calorie thirst quencher. If dispensed in bottles made from a type of plastic known as PET, for polyethylene terephthalate, this water may also pack a substantial quantity of estrogen-mimicking pollution, according to researchers at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt.".

At present, the science behind this doesn't look too good. They didn't actually test (quantitatively) for any estrogen-mimicking compound, or even identify what it is. Instead they placed estrogen-sensitive snails into the bottle and saw a response that correlates with increased estrogen levels.

Apparently they seem to have forgotten that correlation is not causation, something can all scientists know but are prone to forgetting on occasion (more occasions for some than for others).

The full article is open access.

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