With the prevalence of reusable water bottles nowadays, it is quite common to just stash the older ones in the back of a cupboard and forget about them until we run out of our favorite new options. And while that might seem wasteful, it may have been the saving grace of many people, because even though no one is told this, it turns out that reusable water bottles are not forever and washing them repeatedly can potentially poison you. This is what happened to a man in Taiwan, who kept the same bottle for ten years, washing it every day and ended up severely ill and in the hospital.
This might be an extreme case, after all most of us have not kept our water bottles for that long, they tend to lose their thermos capacity, we do not use them every day or we just lose them in a move. Wasteful behavior, for sure, but better than being poisoned.
The Taiwanese man that made this story break thought he had it all figured out, every day he used his bottle for coffee or tea or another acidic drink to keep it cool or warm, and when he was done he would rinse out his bottle and repeat the next day, thinking that everything was OK. But one day he fell ill, and his symptoms worsened over time, eventually passing away from pneumonia complicated by lead poisoning.
Midi Libre reported that doctors found traces of the metal in his blood and when they looked into the case the culprit turned out to be his everyday thermos. Though the bottle appeared clean, over the years, oxidation had been building up inside and could not be seen at a simple glance. The main cause of this corrosion was regular use of acidic drinks like coffee and soda as these drinks gradually wore down the protective inner coating, allowing toxic metal particles to break free.
The layer of rust that coated the interior of the bottle did nothing to protect the man, instead it ate out at the interior of the bottle and released even more chemicals into his daily drinks until every sip delivered a dose of invisible poison.
The dark side of reusable water bottles, silent poison
This case seems to be quite terrifying, but it is far from unique. The World Health Organization warns that “lead poisoning causes a million deaths per year worldwide.” And even in places like Europe, where regulations like CE 1935/2004 exist to ensure food-safe materials, wear and tear over time can override those protections and turn a safe product into a health risk. But in many Asian countries, some cheaper thermos bottles may contain lead in the soldering or base, making them even more hazardous.
Doctors involved in the case pointed out that the frequent use of acidic beverages played a major role, as his body slowly absorbed them without showing clear signs until it was too late. The chronic poisoning weakened his immune system, leaving him vulnerable to infections like the pneumonia that ultimately killed him.
This is why it is important to replace reusable water bottles every once in a while even though they are supposed to last a lifetime. Inspecting them regularly on the inside to ensure that their lining is intact is important, and using them sparingly when it comes to highly acidic drinks can also help. While this man’s passing was not anyone’s fault, we can never be sure about the standard of manufacturing of these products, and so being careful and treating them with care is the first step to ensuring that we do not suffer the same fate.