Toxic ingredients found on bottled drinks labels

An environmental watch group has asked companies manufacturing bottled drinks to stop using toxic paint on their labels after it found over the weekend high levels of lead, cadmium, antimony and even arsenic in the markings of at least three soft drink brands.

According to EcoWaste Coalition, it detected as much as 100,000 parts per million (ppm) of lead in one brand, way above the 90 ppm limit set by the United States in paints and surface coatings. Apart from this, the soft drink label also contained high levels of antimony, cadmium and arsenic.

The group said it also found toxic chemicals in the markings of two fruit soda brands.

“We consider this a public health concern since soft drinks are among the country’s top-selling products, consumed even by young children and distributed widely by sari-sari [retail] stores in almost all neighborhoods,” EcoWaste’s Project Protect coordinator Thony Dizon said.

While Dizon stressed that the toxic chemicals were found only on the product labels, consumers of the beverages may still be exposed to these.

He explained: “Lead from the label may not leach into the liquid inside the impermeable glass container. However, lead may get into the bottle when it is washed for recycling or ingested by a consumer, particularly a child, when she touches the leaded part and then puts her fingers in her mouth.”

According to the United Nations Environmental Program, lead “is a heavy metal that is toxic at very low exposure levels and has acute and chronic effects on human health as it is a multi-organ system toxicant that can cause neurological, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, hematological and reproductive effects.”

EcoWaste bought the different brands of bottled beverages from various retailers on July 5-6. Using an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer, it detected toxic chemicals on the labels of three of the 15 brands it tested.