Agustin Gimenez

FDSCI 101
9/22/2016

Freezing water in plastic bottles releases harmful toxins into the water.
According to some claims, some scientists and health specialists say that if you freeze
plastic water bottles, it releases dioxins in the plastic to the water, and that could cause
cancer. This also applies for when you heat food in the microwave in a plastic container.
This claim was supported by Dr. Edward Fujimoto, who said that (referring to heating food in
the microwave) the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxins into the food
and ultimately, into the cells of the body. He recommended using glass containers.
If we asked ourselves the questions we learned from Dr. John Lamb talk, we found
that that this claim is not supported by reliable, reproducible observations. According to
experts, plastics used in food wraps or bottles do not contain the chemical constituents that
form dioxins, and even if they do, dioxins can only be formed during combustion at very high
temperatures and not at room or freezing temperatures.
This claim also cannot be explained in terms of a rational model. When reading
about this, I thought of the example Dr. Lamb gives about cause and effect, with high tension
cables that were causing cancer in those who live near, apparently. Same thing happened with
this plastic claim, because lot of people still believe that.
With all this evidence, we come to the conclusion that this is just voodoo science.
Links: https://plasticsmythbuster.org/Main-Menu/Plastics-Rumor-Registry/Freezing-PlasticWater-Bottles-Releases-Dioxins-into-Waterhttp://www.jhsph.edu/news/stories/2004/halden-dioxins-two.html
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-controversies/plasticbottles-and-cling-film
Self-grade: 4.5