HEALTH
reusing water bottles
Recycling bins are overflowing with them, lecture hall floors are littered with them and Wescoe Underground's refrigerators are stocked with them: Plastic bottles full of water,fruit juice or sport drinks. Rumor has it that reusing these bottles - made with a recyclable plastic PET - can be dangerous
because toxins can separate from the plastic and leach into the liquid.
A 2007 University of Heidelberg study finds that PET plastics could, over time, release a potentially harmful toxin called antimony. According to the study, two out of 132 brands of bottled water contained a measurable amount of the substance. But the Environmental Protection Agency says in a pamphlet that "drinking water can reasonably be expected to contain
at least small amounts of some contaminants.The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that the water poses a health risk."
The rumor about potentially dangerous bottle-borne toxins started with a master's thesis written by a University of Idaho student. The report was widely circulated via spam E-mail, and became an urban myth of sorts. But the student's findings were deemed unreliable by plastic advocacy groups, and the EPA declared that the toxins would not lead to cancer.
Julie Tuley,Lawrence Memorial Hospital oncology coordinator, says that although environmental variables can sometimes lead to cancer, the plastic bottle rumor was no more than a myth. "As far as I've seen, there haven't been any reliable studies tying bottles to cancer," Tuley says.
VERDICT: GOOD FOR YOU
—Asher Fusco
alcoholic mouthwash
Brush, floss, rinse. That's the routine most of us think we need to follow to maintain a healthy mouth, but that last step could be causing more harm than good if you're using a traditional, alcohol-based mouthwash.
While the alcohol content of mouthwashes varies, some can contain up to 30 percent alcohol. Sure, rinse with these mouthwashes can kill germs. So does rinsing with brandy, scotch or vodka says Debbie Rogers, dental hygienist at Dental Studio in Lawrence.
from the mouth. Rogers says the bacteria must be mechanically removed using an instrument such as a tongue brush.
Rogers says the alcohol content of mouthwash has a two-fold negative affect on the mouth. First, although it kills bacteria, mouthwash doesn't remove bacteria
Second, alcohol dries out the mouth. The drier the mouth is, the more bacteria can grow in it. Rogers says. Saliva helps to keep the mouth clean
by naturally washing out bacteria, but the alcohol in some mouthwashes dries out tissue in the mouth, and resulting in less saliva.
Because the mouth harbors a lot of bacteria, it needs all the natural cleaning it can get. "It's the dirtiest part of the body," says James Otten, Lawrence dentist. "It has more bacteria, fungus and parasites than anywhere else." Otten agrees that alcohol can dry out the mouth, leaving it susceptible to bacteria and even some fungus.
VERDICT: BAD FOR YOU
—Susan Melgren
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SALVA O'RENICK
THE LEGENDS AT VILLAGE WEST
KCBEERFEST.COM
SEPTEMBER 27 @ KC POWER & LIGHT OCTOBER 18 @ THE LEGENDS
October 2, 2008
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