Effects of dissolved plastic on the body

[valleyman]

I am well aware that gbl dissolves many plastics and of course always store it in glass or hdpe. I do occasionally use a pet bottle for temporary storage of dilute soluions, however, and find it generally not to be a problem. An example being taking 10ml or so to a club in an eyedrop bottle then transferring this to a 500ml pet water bottle for easy dosing over the night.

Recently, however, I left a more concentrated solution (about 1:20) overnight in a pet bottle and though the taste was clearly much worse than expected even when diluted the net day I consumed it. By the end of the day I was feeling quite spacey and had quite a nasty feeling throughout my body. Obviously I won't be doing this again.

I was hoping someone here might be able to describe in more detail the effects that consuming dissolved pet could have had on my body. I also noticed some slight discomfort in my kidneys however it was only slight and this could have been placebo as I felt filtering plastic might not be good for them. It probably isn't, but I'm not sure the small amount dissolved would have led to noticeable discomfort.

Info on the web is scarce but an unreliable source indicated pet to be biologically inert. Clarification on this would also be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[lineartransform]

Acute Toxicity. Neither administration of PET powder nor a single administration of chloroform extracts of PET at a dose of 10 g/kg BW had a toxic effect on rats."

Repeated Exposure. In a 1-month study, rats received wine extracts obtained after several months contact with PET. The treatment produced no harmful effect on animals.

Short-term Toxicity. Rats were given 5.0 to 400 mg technical grade PET/kg BW and 5.0 to 100 mg pure PET/kg BW over a 3-month period. There were no changes in their behavior, BW gain, biochemical indices of blood serum, urine, or hematology analyses, or in relative weights of internal organs."

Long-term Toxicity. No manifestations of toxicity were observed in rats, given aqueous extracts of PVC film reinforced with Lavsan.

Mutagenicity.

In vitro genotoxicity. De Fusco et al. studied the mutagenicity in unconcentrated mineral water stored in PET bottles and growing Salmonella strains directly in the plastic bottles. Leaching of mutagens after 1 month of water storage in daylight and in the dark in PET bottles used for beverage packaging was noted. This activity was higher after storage in daylight. 14 The mutagenicity test on non-volatile migrant compounds identified in the above-sited study gave negative results.

Carcinogenicity. Dacron induced malignant tumors at the site of application in rodents following s/c imbedding of polymer films. Nevertheless, the results of this study have been later considered inadequate. 026 S/c implantation of pieces of PET graft to mice and Syrian golden hamsters showed no statistical evidence of tumor induction. Observation period was 73 and 82 weeks, respectively.

 

[valleyman]

Thanks. That pretty much alleviates my worries. I do still wonder about the strange effects however. The kidney issue was probably in my head, but the spaciness and weird body feeling were very pronounced. I am an experienced user, very familiar with the effects and this was certainly not an effect of the g, nor was I expecting it to happen.

Is it possible that the gbl could havv reacted with the pet to form some other compound? It seems unlikely to me but I'll leave that up to a better chemist. I suppose I am also not a rat...

 

[grue]

There certainly is concern about toxins (specifically xenoestrogens) that might leach from plastic into food or drink substances. There are many compounds, many sorts of plastic, and the science of this is heavily contested and heavily contaminated by politics, the research comparatively scarce ... but for instance bisphenol-A (found in hard plastic bottles, like Nalgene bottles until they pulled it recently, and also the lining of metal food cans) has produced notable scare and media, and some bannings in various countries.

As I said I don't think we have the answer yet on this, and there are arguments from both sides, but I don't think it's an unreasonable choice given your possible reaction for now to go ahead and store something caustic like GBL in a glass container, like a jar -- personally that's what I would do, anyway.

 

[valleyman]

I'm less concerned by these xenoestrogen compounds. If I'm not mistaken similar compounds are present in tapwater which I drink plenty of daily. It seems unlikely that a single pet bottle would leach anywhere near the same quantities in a day that I regularly consume in tapwater. I have also stored pure gbl In hdpe for periods of up to 2 years without noticing adverse effects.

Another thing came to mind this morning though. The bottle cap was not marked but is likely made from polpropylene. Gbl and water have a tendency not to remain mixed properly and the gbl sinks to the bottom so I always invert the bottle before drinking. Carelessness around my computer keyboard has shown that gbl dissolves PVC in a matter of seconds if that's any help. So could it be the PP from the lid that caused these effects

 

[vecktor]

in a more extreme form its called plastination....

but I think a lot of GBL and PET is required, and you also have to be dead

FWIW GBL does not appear to attack PE or PP, it does attack PS, PET , nylon,