Antimony and PET Bottles: Checking Facts
Open accessAbstract
Over the last 30 years, bottled water has gained in popularity reaching high sales world-wide. Most of this water is sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. About 15 years ago, the presence of antimony in water in those PET bottles raised concerns and studies on the subject have been regularly published since then. This review aims to evaluate whether the use of good analytical practices and the correct design of these studies support the accepted facts (i.e., PET is the origin of antimony presence in bottled waters, antimony concentrations are usually below regulated values, temperature increasing favours antimony leaching). The detailed analysis of published data has confirmed these facts but has also revealed frequency of faulty analytical practices and a lack of well-designed studies. A better understanding of the structure of PET polymer in the bottles, coupled with statistically-robust antimony release experiments, is required to progress in the field.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Contaminants originating in the chemical composition of plastic bottles are often found in bottled water; contamination type and concentration depend on the container type and storage conditions.
“Contaminants originating in the chemical composition of plastic bottles are often found in bottled water. Contamination type and concentration depend on the container type [62] and storage conditions, which affect the rate at which the chemicals leach into the water [73-75].”
From Bottled Water: An Evidence-Based Overview of Economic Viability, Environmental Impact, and Social Equity (2023) · cites this paper as [75]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
(1993) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.30-3839 · Cited by 836 · see citing works
Geochemical Atlas of Europe, Part 1, Background Information, Methodology and Maps
Салминен, Р., Batista, M. J., Bidovec, M., et al. (2005) · Cited by 705 · see citing works
Bach, C., Dauchy, X., Chagnon, M., & Étienne, S. (2011) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.11.062 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
Antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic used for bottled drinking water
Westerhoff, P. K., Prapaipong, P., Shock, E. L., & Hillaireau, A. (2007) · Water Research · doi:10.1016/j.watres.2007.07.048 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
(2016) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2014-0-02399-4 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Contamination of Canadian and European bottled waters with antimony from PET containers
Shotyk, W., Krachler, M., & Chen, B. (2006) · Journal of Environmental Monitoring · doi:10.1039/b517844b · Cited by 226 · see citing works
A time to search: finding the meaning of variable activation energy
Vyazovkin, S. (2016) · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · doi:10.1039/c6cp02491b · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Shotyk, W., & Krachler, M. (2007) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es061511+ · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Bach, C., Dauchy, X., Séverin, I., et al. (2013) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.01.046 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Variation of 66 elements in European bottled mineral waters
Misund, A., Frengstad, B., Siewers, U., et al. (1999) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(99)00307-1 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Effect of antimony catalyst on solid-state polycondensation of poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Duh, B. (2002) · Polymer · doi:10.1016/s0032-3861(02)00138-6 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Leaching of antimony from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into mineral water
Keresztes, S., Tatár, E., Mihucz, V. G., Virág, I. C., Majdik, C., & Záray, G. (2009) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.04.025 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Krachler, M., & Shotyk, W. (2008) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.10.014 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Physicochemical aspects of the environmental degradation of poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Allen, N. S., Edge, M., Mohammadian, M., et al. (1994) · Polymer Degradation and Stability · doi:10.1016/0141-3910(94)90074-4 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Clemens Reimann, C., Birke, M., & Peter Filzmoser, A. (2010) · Applied Geochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2010.04.009 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Assessment of metal contaminations leaching out from recycling plastic bottles upon treatments
Cheng, X., Shi, H., Adams, C. D., & Ma, Y. (2010) · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · doi:10.1007/s11356-010-0312-4 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Welle, F. M., & Franz, R. (2010) · Food Additives & Contaminants Part A · doi:10.1080/19440049.2010.530296 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Determination of major and trace elements in European bottled mineral water — Analytical methods
Birke, M., Clemens Reimann, C., Demetriades, A., Rauch, U., Lorenz, H., Harazim, B., & Glatte, W. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.05.005 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Fan, Y., Zheng, J.-L., Ren, J., Luo, J. H., Cui, X.-Y., & Ma, L. Q. (2014) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2014.05.012 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Fiket, Ž., Roje, V., Mikac, N., et al. (2007) · University of Zagreb University Computing Centre (SRCE) · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Cicchella, D., Albanese, S., Vivo, B. D., Dinelli, E., Giaccio, L., Lima, A., & Valera, P. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.04.004 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Detection of antimony species in citrus juices and drinking water stored in PET containers
Hansen, H. R., & Pergantis, S. A. (2006) · Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry · doi:10.1039/b606367e · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Chapa-Martínez, C. A., Hinojosa‐Reyes, L., Hernández‐Ramírez, A., Ruíz-Ruíz, E., Maya-Treviño, M. D. L., & Guzmán‐Mar, J. L. (2016) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.184 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Migration of antimony from polyethylene terephthalate used in mineral water bottles
Carneado, S., Hernández-Natarén, E., López-Sánchez, J. F., & Sahuquillo, A. (2014) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.06.041 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Quentel, F., & Filella, M. (2002) · Analytica Chimica Acta · doi:10.1016/s0003-2670(01)01474-x · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Self-citationAn assessment of the quality of various bottled mineral water marketed in Turkey
Baba, A., Ereeş, F. S., Hiçsönmez, Ü., et al. (2007) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10661-007-9833-9 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Hydrogeochemical analysis on Italian bottled mineral waters: Effects of geology
Dinelli, E., Lima, A., Vivo, B. D., et al. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.06.004 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Biros, S. M., Bridgewater, B. M., Villeges-Estrada, A., et al. (2002) · Inorganic Chemistry · doi:10.1021/ic020204b · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Takahashi, Y., Sakuma, K., Itai, T., Zheng, G., & Mitsunobu, S. (2008) · Environmental Science & Technology · doi:10.1021/es802073x · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Migration from polyethylene terephthalate under all conditions of use
Ashby, R. (1988) · Food Additives & Contaminants · doi:10.1080/02652038809373681 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Co-leaching of brominated compounds and antimony from bottled water
Andra, S. S., Makris, K. C., Shine, J. P., & Lu, C. A. (2011) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2011.08.007 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Haldimann, M., Alt, A., Blanc, A., Brünner, K. K., Sager, F., & Dudler, V. (2012) · Food Additives & Contaminants Part A · doi:10.1080/19440049.2012.751631 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Göschel, U., Deutscher, K., & Abetz, V. (1996) · Polymer · doi:10.1016/0032-3861(96)81592-8 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Concentrations of inorganic elements in bottled waters on the Swedish market
Rosborg, I., Nihlgård, B. J., Gerhardsson, L., Gernersson, M.-L., Ohlin, R., & Olsson, T. (2005) · Environmental Geochemistry and Health · doi:10.1007/s10653-004-1612-8 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
The chemistry of bottled mineral and spring waters from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland
Frengstad, B., Lax, K., Tarvainen, T., et al. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.07.001 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Migration of antimony from PET containers into regulated EU food simulants
Sánchez-Martínez, M., Pérez-Corona, T., Cámara, C., et al. (2013) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.03.067 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Elevated antimony concentrations in commercial juices
Hansen, C., Tsirigotaki, A., Bak, S. A., Pergantis, S. A., Stürup, S., Gammelgaard, B., & Hansen, H. R. (2010) · Journal of Environmental Monitoring · doi:10.1039/b926551a · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Fordham, P. J., Gramshaw, J. W., Crews, H. M., et al. (1995) · Food Additives & Contaminants · doi:10.1080/02652039509374354 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Temperature-dependent leaching of chemical elements from mineral water bottle materials
Clemens Reimann, C., Birke, M., & Peter Filzmoser, A. (2012) · Applied Geochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2012.05.003 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Antimony Assessment in PET Bottles for Soft Drink
Kiyataka, P. H. M., Dantas, S. T., Albino, A. C., & Pallone, J. A. L. (2017) · Food Analytical Methods · doi:10.1007/s12161-017-0951-x · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Tukur, A., Sharp, L., Stern, B., Tizaoui, C., & Benkreira, H. (2012) · Journal of Environmental Monitoring · doi:10.1039/c2em10917d · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Greifenstein, M. R., White, D. W., Stubner, A., van der Hout, J. W., & Whelton, A. J. (2013) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.092 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Composition and variation of major and trace elements in Croatian bottled waters
Peh, Z., Šorša, A., & Halamić, J. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.02.002 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Diffusion coefficient of antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate bottles into beverages
Rungchang, S., Numthuam, S., Qiu, X., et al. (2012) · Journal of Food Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2012.10.025 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
A survey of the inorganic chemistry of bottled mineral waters from the British Isles
Smedley, P. L. (2010) · Applied Geochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2010.10.003 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Characterization of bottled mineral waters marketed in Poland using hierarchical cluster analysis
Astel, A. M., Michalski, R., Łyko, A., et al. (2014) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2014.04.002 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
de Andrade, J. K., de Andrade, C. K., Felsner, M. L., Quináia, S. P., & dos Anjos, V. E. (2017) · Microchemical Journal · doi:10.1016/j.microc.2017.03.043 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Felipe-Sotelo, M., Henshall-Bell, E. R., Evans, N. D. M., et al. (2014) · Journal of Food Composition and Analysis · doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2014.10.014 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Molaee Aghaee, E., Alimohammadi, M., Nabizadeh, R., Jahed khaniki, G., Naseri, S., Mahvi, A. H., Yaghmaeian, K., Aslani, H., Nazmara, S., Mahmoudi, B., et al. (2014) · Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering · doi:10.1186/s40201-014-0133-3 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Koyuncu, M., & Alwazeer, D. (2019) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10661-019-7851-z · Cited by 33 · see citing works
de Jesus, A., Dessuy, M. B., Huber, C. S., et al. (2015) · Microchemical Journal · doi:10.1016/j.microc.2015.08.016 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Shotyk, W., Krachler, M., Chen, B., et al. (2005) · Journal of Environmental Monitoring · doi:10.1039/b509352j · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Rowell, C., Kuiper, N., & Preud’homme, H. (2016) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.01.109 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Investigation of the hydrogeochemistry of some bottled mineral waters in Hungary
Fügedi, U., Kuti, L., Jordán, G., et al. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.10.011 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
General ground water geochemistry of Hellas using bottled water samples
Demetriades, A. (2010) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2010.10.012 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Thompson, D., Parry, S. J., & Benzing, R. (1997) · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry · doi:10.1007/bf02055363 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Gehring, C., & Welle, F. M. (2017) · Packaging Technology and Science · doi:10.1002/pts.2291 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Concentrations of selected trace elements in mineral and spring bottled waters on the Serbian market
Ristić, M., Popović, I. G., Pocajt, V. V., Antanasijević, D. Z., & Perić‐Grujić, A. A. (2010) · Food Additives and Contaminants Part B · doi:10.1080/19440049.2010.535216 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Qiao, F., Lei, K., Li, Z., Liu, Q., Wei, Z., An, L., Qi, H., & Cui, S. (2017) · Environmental Science and Pollution Research · doi:10.1007/s11356-017-0598-6 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Marcinkowska, M. A., Lorenc, W., & Barałkiewicz, D. (2016) · Microchemical Journal · doi:10.1016/j.microc.2016.11.022 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Al-Otoum, F., Al-Ghouti, M. A., Costa, O. S., & Khraisheh, M. A. M. (2017) · Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · doi:10.1007/s10661-017-6342-3 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Antimony in paints and enamels of everyday items
Turner, A. E., & Filella, M. (2020) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136588 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationMolecular morphology of petaloid bases of PET bottles: A small‐angle X‐ray scattering study
Hanley, T. L., Sutton, D., Cookson, D., et al. (2006) · Journal of Applied Polymer Science · doi:10.1002/app.22757 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Investigation of antimony, cobalt, and acetaldehyde migration into the drinking water in Turkey
Doğan, C. E., & Çebi, N. (2019) · Packaging Technology and Science · doi:10.1002/pts.2430 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Trace and major elements in Croatian bottled waters
Roje, V., & Šutalo, P. (2019) · Journal of Geochemical Exploration · doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2019.03.015 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Payán, L., Poyatos, M. T., Muñoz, L., Rubia, M. D. L., Pacheco, R., & Ramos, N. (2017) · Food Science and Technology International · doi:10.1177/1082013217690300 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Speciation of antimony in polyethylene terephthalate bottles
Martin, R. R., Shotyk, W., Naftel, S. J., et al. (2010) · X-Ray Spectrometry · doi:10.1002/xrs.1241 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Comparison of Trace Elements in Bottled and Desalinated Household Drinking Water in Kuwait
Al–Mudhaf, H. F., & Abu-Shady, A.-S. I. (2012) · CLEAN - Soil Air Water · doi:10.1002/clen.201100618 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Antimony release in PET bottled natural water in Lebanon
Hureïki, L., & Mouneimne, Y. (2012) · Water Science & Technology Water Supply · doi:10.2166/ws.2012.128 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Effect of NaCl on antimony and phthalate compounds leached from PET bottles
Leechart, P., Inthorn, D., & Thiravetyan, P. (2015) · Water Science & Technology Water Supply · doi:10.2166/ws.2015.030 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Brandão, J. D. O., Moyo, M., & Okonkwo, J. O. (2013) · Water Science & Technology Water Supply · doi:10.2166/ws.2013.187 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Hu, Z., Gao, S., Liu, X.-M., et al. (2007) · PubMed · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Mortula, M.M., Ahmad, A., 2013. Leaching of antimony from bottle water. Proc. of the Intl. Conf. on Advances in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering- ACSEE 85e88.
- Piringer, O.G., Baner, A.L., 2008. Plastic Packaging: Interactions with Food and Pharmaceuticals, second ed. https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527621422 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Towards Higher Quality of Recycled Plastics: Limitations from the Material’s Perspective
Alassali, A., Picuno, C., Chong, Z. K., Guo, J., Maletz, R., & Kuchta, K. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su132313266 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Parag, Y., Elimelech, E., & Opher, T. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15129760 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
- Authors
- Filella, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Filella, Montserrat
- ORCID
- Filella, Montserrat
- Venue
- Chemosphere
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 261
- Pages
- 127732
- ISSN
- 0045-6535 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3043008983
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Chemosphere (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Environmental and Analytical Chemistry Studies
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Analytical Chemistry › Analytical chemistry methods development
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Keywords
- antimony, PET bottles, bottled water, antimony leaching, analytic practice, research design, temperature effects, regulatory limits, polymer structure
- MeSH terms
- Antimony, Food Contamination, Polyethylene Terephthalates, Temperature, Time Factors, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Food Packaging, Drinking Water
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
