Why Does Bottled Water Have An Expiration Date?

In this week’s Parade magazine columnist Marilyn vos Savant answered this very question from one of her readers. In one paragraph she did a nice job of addressing the issue. The Cliffs Notes version of her answer suggested that over time a bottle might break and leak, the water might develop an unacceptable taste and smell, and then finally, over time certain harmful chemicals in the plastic might leach out into the water.

Famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins also wrote a well-researched article about the different types of plastic bottles and the various contaminants that can possibly leach out of the bottles, thereby causing health issues to the consumer. In another article however, Robbins contradicts himself and claims that plastic is forever.

The FDA claims that the small amount of chemicals leaching out of the plastic bottle is not dangerous to man. At the same time, plastic beverage bottles come with a numbered rating to tell the consumer what kind of plastic the bottle is made out of. This, so the consumer can make better decisions about what he wants to consume.

.So what is the truth about plastic bottles?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you already have the answer that I am going to share. The answer is much bigger than plastic. The real issue again, goes back to understanding water. To repeat myself, water is the universal solvent. Given time, it will dissolve anything and everything it comes into contact with. Everything that is, but one thing; silica, the ingredient in glass.

Why man continues to struggle with this concept I have no idea. It is funny that on one hand Robbins talks about chemicals leaching out of plastic bottles, and then also writes an article that plastics are here forever. You can’t have it both ways. If water is pulling chemicals out of the plastic, then clearly, water is degrading (dissolving) it.

I have called water the most dangerous liquid in the universe, and it is. Over time, it will break down everything. Again, everything, except for glass. The takeaway you see is that we continue to spin our wheels trying to find magic containers that won’t cause us health problems due to leached poisons. We have had the solution for years. We just are ignoring it.