The Truth About DEHA in Plastic Water Bottles
There is a widely circulated “scare” story on the internet about a “potentially carcinogenic chemical” referred to as DEHA, migrating into water from plastic water bottles. The authors of these articles report diethyl hydroxylamine, or DEHA, leaches from plastic water bottles on repeated washing and rinsing. Users of plastic water bottles are warned to discard such bottles after a single use and not refill them.
These stories might have originated with persons who have some interest in seeing more new bottled water sold as opposed to having the empty bottles reused. Or they might have originated from a mis-use of the scientific name for the chemical. For instance, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) has the word “phthalate” in it. Phthalate in its raw form (in run-off water) can be a dangerous chemical. Some people seem to think that since that word is in PET, then the bottle must leech chemicals that are bad for us. This is in fact very untrue. According to the CDC and EPA, the chemical “phthalate” is NOT FOUND in a polyethylene terephthalate bottle. In other words, there is a huge difference between “terephthalate” and “phthalate.”
By the same token, diethyl hydroxylamine is sometimes abbreviated as DEHA, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with plastic water bottles. The creators of this scare have probably confused it with diethylhexyl adipate, which is also sometimes called DEHA, and is sometimes used to make plastics soft and pliable. However, diethylhexyl adipate is also NOT used to make plastic water bottles, which again are most commonly made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Strangely enough, neither form of DEHA are classified as a carcinogen. So, we budget-conscious people can go ahead and re-use our plastic bottles until we darn well get our money’s worth!
