No plastic-bottled water, please

I would go further to suggest that all commercially bottled/ packed drinks, including socalled fruit juices, be banned, even if the manufacturers make a token effort to reduce sugar content.

(Who is checking, anyway?) They are just as bad and have no nutritional value whatsoever.

(Independent tests by a company run by doctors I work with confirm this.) When I say ban all commercially bottled drinks, I include water. Yes, water. The minister took a swig from his plastic-bottled water as he made his announcement, and I shuddered to think that was the kind of water he intended to serve to our schoolchildren. Bad idea.

The health risks associated with plastic-bottled water are well documented so I’ll briefly mention a few here without the references. The plastic used for bottled water often contains BPA (Bisphenol A). BPA is a chemical used to stabilise epoxy resins and polycarbonate plastics or hard plastics. It is also used in softer plastics to prevent cracking. It is known to leach into the water when exposed to heat (like in a hot storeroom or in a truck sitting in the sun).

BPA mimics the hormone estrogen and has been linked to a long list of serious health problems including ovarian, prostate, and breast cancers. BPA adversely affects foetuses, infants and children’s brains, and prostate glands. Behaviour disorders are also prevalent from BPA contamination leading to hyperactivity and aggression in children. Do we really want our children, or anyone else, drinking BPA water? So what about BPA-free plastic bottles? Since the trillion-dollar bottled water industry could not deny the dangers to health posed by BPA, many are now saying their bottles are BPA-free. However, BPA-free plastics are just as bad.

The National Institutes of Health (in the US) funded research which found that “almost all” commercially available plastics that were tested leached synthetic estrogens. It also found that some BPA-free products actually released synthetic estrogens that were more potent than BPA. And, yes, these estrogens can cause obesity and diabetes, the very problems we are trying to avoid. Bottom line – avoid plastic water bottles altogether.

Even if we want to ignore or disavow the health risks, there are other compelling reasons why we should not serve plastic-bottled water in schools, or anywhere else. The first is environmental.

Plastics are made from fossil fuels and their use creates a huge burden on the environment.

The World Economic Forum reports that if we keep producing (and failing to properly dispose of) plastics at predicted rates, plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050.

Plastic has wound up in the stomachs of more than half the world’s sea turtles and nearly all of its marine birds, according to a Washington Post article. Bottled water bans have been proposed and enacted in many municipalities and campuses around the world (eg San Francisco, Toronto, Bihar, Washington University).

We should do our part to reduce the use of plastics, especially single-use plastic bottles.

All schools should be equipped with filtered water dispensers where students and staff can fill reusable water bottles and canteens.

There would be no need to serve a drink with the meal. Such dispensers should also be placed at strategic locations across the country. I’m certain that many citizens (aliens, too) would be only too happy to fill up with “free” water as opposed to spending $5 or so. (I have no idea of the price – never saw the need to buy water.) Our country is blessed with an abundance of juicy fruits (orange, portugal, watermelon etc).

The Government can give farmers a boost by having them supply schools on a daily basis. This is so much better (and healthier) than buying fruit-flavoured drinks. And I would not leave out supplying coconut water as an option.

At the Conversation with the PM in Maloney, I was particularly disheartened to see the two plastic bottles of water served to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and National Security Minister Edmund Dillon. A powerful message could have been sent by having a glass jug of (coconut?) water poured into drinking glasses. But it’s not too late to fix that. The PM has indicated that there are many more “conversations” to come.

It is a start but it is not enough to ban unhealthy drinks in schools if our goal is to curb obesity and diabetes in our society.

That measure targets schoolchildren only and just for about seven hours or so a school day.

We cannot decree that everyone must stop drinking unhealthy beverages. What we can do is educate them about the personal consequences of doing so. Hopefully, some will listen and stop of their own volition. (Regrettably, our estimates indicate that only about two per cent will heed the advice, so manufacturers have little to worry about.) Eating and drinking healthy must become a way of life but our leaders (both government and private) must help, leading by example. For instance, the Government can decide that no plastic- bottled water will be served in Parliament and at government functions. No longer should we see unsightly plastic water bottles at the head table or any other table. The scourge of obesity and diabetes can be curbed but it would take a meaningful, concerted, visible effort by all to make it happen.