This study analysed commercially available mineral water in an in-vitro system with the human estrogen receptor alpha & detected estrogenic contamination in 60% of all samples with a maximum activity equivalent to 75.2ng/1 of the natural sex hormone 17b-estradiol. Furthermore, breeding of the molluskan model Potamopyrgus antipodarum in water bottles made of glass & plastic (PET) resulted in an increased reproductive output of snails cultured in PET bottles. This provided first evidence that substances leaching from plastic foods packaging materials act as functional estrogens in vivo. Results demonstrate widespread contamination of mineral water with xenoestrogens that partly originates from compounds leaching from plastic packaging material. Results indicate that a broader range of foodstuff may be contaminated with endocrine disruptors when packed in plastics.
