你應(yīng)該把那個(gè)塑料水瓶再灌滿嗎?

你應(yīng)該把那個(gè)塑料水瓶再灌滿嗎?

At some point, you've probably looked at that empty water bottle in the backseat of the car and wondered if it's got just a little more life in it.

在某個(gè)時(shí)刻，你可能會(huì)看著汽車(chē)后座上的空水瓶，想知道它是否還有一點(diǎn)生命。

After all, if you're going to use plastic, why not make it at least double-use plastic — rather than add to the mountain of one-hit wonders.

畢竟，如果你打算使用塑料，為什么不至少重復(fù)使用塑料呢?

Congratulations for drinking plain-old tap water. But about that plastic ... (Photo: xshot/Shutterstock)

The most well-intentioned among us might even try to turn it into triple- or quadruple-use plastic.

我們當(dāng)中最善意的人甚至可能試圖把它變成三次或四次使用的塑料。

But there's a price on those good intentions, especially when it comes to your health.

但這些良好的意愿是要付出代價(jià)的，尤其是涉及到你的健康時(shí)。

The thing is, most single-use water bottles are made from polycarbonate plastics, a pliable and transparent material that would seem ideal for water vessels. And most of those bottles are produced using a chemical compound called polyethylene terephthalate, or PET.

問(wèn)題是，大多數(shù)一次性水瓶是由聚碳酸酯塑料制成的，這是一種柔韌透明的材料，似乎很適合用來(lái)盛水。這些瓶子大多是用一種叫聚對(duì)苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)的化合物生產(chǎn)的。

Bottles made with PET have long been considered a safe alternative to the much more studied — and vilified — alternative, Bisphenol-A, or simply BPA.

用PET制造的瓶子長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直被認(rèn)為是一種安全的替代品，而不是被研究得更深入的替代品——雙酚a或簡(jiǎn)單的BPA。

In fact, manufacturers proudly tout their bottles to be BPA-free. And that's for good reason. Several studies have linked BPA to health woes ranging from cancer to heart disease to even behavioral issues. BPA was found to mimic hormones that can create havoc in the human body.

事實(shí)上，制造商們很自豪地宣傳他們的產(chǎn)品是不含BPA的。這是有原因的。一些研究已經(jīng)將BPA與健康問(wèn)題聯(lián)系起來(lái)，從癌癥到心臟病，甚至是行為問(wèn)題。雙酚a被發(fā)現(xiàn)可以模擬荷爾蒙，對(duì)人體造成破壞。

But more recent research suggests BPA-free alternatives may not be such saints after all — and in fact may pose similar health threats.

但最近的研究表明，不含BPA的替代品可能并不是最好的選擇——事實(shí)上可能會(huì)造成類(lèi)似的健康威脅。

The trouble is chemical compounds don't stay baked into plastic. They're known to leach into the water itself. A study from the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who drank for a week from polycarbonate bottles had a two-thirds increase of BPA their urine.

問(wèn)題是，化合物不會(huì)一直留在塑料里。它們會(huì)滲入水中。哈佛大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，飲用聚碳酸酯瓶一周的人，其尿液中的BPA含量增加了三分之二。

And those were the results from one-time usage of plastic bottles. What happens when you flush them repeatedly with refills of water? It's easy to imagine more of those chemicals leaching into the water over time.

這些是一次性使用塑料瓶的結(jié)果。當(dāng)你反復(fù)用水沖它們的時(shí)候會(huì)發(fā)生什么?很容易想象，隨著時(shí)間的推移，更多的化學(xué)物質(zhì)會(huì)滲入水中。

Then there's the problem of microplastics.

還有微塑料的問(wèn)題。

Last year, scientists from the State University of New York tested 259 containers of bottled water and found tiny pieces of plastic in 93 percent of them. Scientific opinion on whether ingesting plastic, however, remains divided. Some experts suggest the human body is perfectly capable of flushing out contaminants like microplastics.

去年，紐約州立大學(xué)的科學(xué)家們測(cè)試了259個(gè)瓶裝水容器，發(fā)現(xiàn)其中93%都有微小的塑料碎片。然而，關(guān)于是否攝入塑料的科學(xué)觀點(diǎn)仍然存在分歧。一些專(zhuān)家認(rèn)為，人體完全有能力將微塑料等污染物排出體外。

Even the World Health Organization categorizes the risk from drinking microplastics as "low" — although it hastens to add that more research is needed.

即使是世界衛(wèi)生組織也將飲用微塑料制品的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)歸為“低”類(lèi)——盡管它還需要更多的研究。

The older the bottle, the bigger the problem

瓶子越舊，問(wèn)題就越大

It's tempting make plastic water bottles more than a single-use item. (Photo: Alina Avula/Shutterstock)

One thing that we know for certain is that, regardless of the type of plastic, a water bottle collects a lot of dings, dents and creases as it's reused. And those nicks could increase the chances of chemicals leaching into the water.

有一件事我們可以肯定的是，不管塑料是什么類(lèi)型的，水瓶在重復(fù)使用的過(guò)程中會(huì)收集很多的凹痕和折痕。這些裂縫會(huì)增加化學(xué)物質(zhì)滲入水中的機(jī)會(huì)。

Experts warn that "everyday wear and tear from repeated washings and reuse can lead to physical breakdown of the plastic, such as visible thinning or cracks."

專(zhuān)家警告說(shuō)，“每天重復(fù)的清洗和重復(fù)使用會(huì)導(dǎo)致塑料的物理?yè)p壞，比如明顯的變薄或裂縫。”

Then there's the problem of bacteria — something that also happens to thrive in cracks or dents, thanks to the difficulty of washing those nooks.

還有細(xì)菌的問(wèn)題——由于很難清洗那些角落，細(xì)菌也會(huì)在裂縫或凹痕中大量繁殖。

While all bacteria isn't necessarily bad, it's probably safe to say you don't want to ingest it on the regular.

雖然并不是所有的細(xì)菌都是有害的，但可以肯定地說(shuō)，你并不想經(jīng)常攝入細(xì)菌。

The bottom line? If you really want to be a hero to both the environment and your body, reusing a plastic water bottle probably isn't a good idea. Instead, get out that stainless reusable water bottle that's been in the cabinet and fill it up.

底線?如果你真的想成為環(huán)境和身體的英雄，重復(fù)使用塑料水瓶可能不是一個(gè)好主意。相反，可以把櫥柜里的那個(gè)可重復(fù)使用的不銹鋼水瓶拿出來(lái)裝滿水。

The best thing you can do is skip bottled water entirely, especially as research continues to pile up on the potential hazards of drinking water from any kind of plastic.

你能做的最好的事情就是完全不喝瓶裝水，尤其是在各種塑料制品對(duì)飲用水潛在危害的研究還在不斷增加的情況下。

As Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This is coming at a good time because the use of bottles for consuming water is getting very bad press now because of its carbon footprint.

正如羅切斯特大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)和牙科學(xué)院的莎娜·斯旺告訴澳大利亞廣播公司的那樣。“這來(lái)得正是時(shí)候，因?yàn)槠垦b水的使用由于其碳足跡而受到了非常負(fù)面的報(bào)道。

"It's just another nail in the coffin of bottled water, the way I see it."

“在我看來(lái)，這不過(guò)是瓶裝水棺材上的又一顆釘子。”