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Figure 3: Total ion chromatogram of a PET standard.
From their results, the team found that the bottled still water from Brand A displayed both marker compounds, confirming the
presence of PET and enabling its concentration to be calculated (Figure 4 and Table 1). With the still water from Brand B, no
2,4-DTBP was detected, indicating that not all bottled drinks contain PET – different manufactures may have different
production processes or storage conditions, or they may use recycled materials. Carbonated water and cola also gave positive
results for PET.
Figure 4: Total ion chromatograms showing the direct desorption of filtrate from bottled water. Brand A (above) shows a
positive result for PET with the detection of DTPB and THF, whereas Brand B (below) shows no detectable levels of PET.
Table 1: Calculated concentrations of 2,4-DTBP for each sample.
These initial findings indicate that people may be exposed to PET as a result of drinking beverages from plastic bottles.
Limits for human exposure to PET have not been determined, yet there are concerns that additives within PET or
adsorbed onto its surface could be harmful. A US study on pre-production pellets and post-consumer plastic fragments
found polychlorinated biphenyls and polyaromatic hydrocarbons – known carcinogens – on the surfaces of both.(7)