Pharmacist cautions against storing sachet, bottled water, soft drinks under sun

Sun, Nov 17, 2019
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Health

A  pharmacist and lecturer with the University of Jos, Mrs Rotkang Okunlola, has cautioned people against keeping water(sachet, bottled and dispensing jugs) and soft drinks under the sun.

Okunlola gave the caution in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Sunday, saying that the habit could be detrimental to human health in the long run.

She said when they got hotter, most plastic items released a tiny amount of chemicals into the beverages or water they contained.

“The hotter it gets the chemical bonds in the plastic increasingly break down and chemicals are more likely to seep into the content,” she said.

She, however, said that the amount of the chemicals that entered the content were too little to cause immediate health problems, but that the long-term effects of consuming drinks or water with small doses of plastics could add up in a big way in the long run to cause grievous health challenges.

The pharmacist said that antimony was used to manufacture the plastics, and when such plastics were kept under the sun, the antimony seeps into the content and could be toxic in high doses.

She said in the long run when the plastic contents built up in the body it could be very hazardous and very detrimental to health as it could cause various incurable ailments.

She advised that all consumables, especially those in plastic containers, should not be kept directly under the sun as this leads to various chemical reactions in the content.

Okunola also advised that such items be kept in cool places away from strong odours or anything that could contaminate them.

She recommended that people should insist on purchasing soft drinks and water that were well kept

NAN

– Nov. 17, 2019 @ 15:25 GMT |

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