‘Keeping bottled water out make no harm till 70 degrees celsius

Manama

Most of the apprehensions about the use of bottled water are baseless and cannot be verified scientifically, said Consultant General Surgeon and Head of Awali Hospital Maj General (Rtd) Dr Tariq Hameed, while speaking to the DT News yesterday.

DT News conducted this research in response to the wrong practices seen by some shopkeepers who happened to be storing water bottles outside their shops in the hot sun. “Generally this practice is not good as water should be kept in cold places,” says Dr Tariq, “but at the same time it’s not harmful for health unless and until exposed to 70 degree Celsius heat for a period of four weeks.”

“If you expose bottled water to extremely hot sun for a long time, some dioxin can absorb into the water but again it is not scientifically proved that dioxin could cause cancer. Some people do think that dioxin compound can cause cancer but there is no scientific evidence available, he said.

Dr Tariq said that the Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) material with which the bottle was made should be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the contents of water should both chemically and bacteriologically be safe. If these points are kept in mind then there is no harm in using the bottled water.