Is my bottle safe?

Today in class we talked about drinking water from water bottles. Some bottles are safe to re-use and others have a one time use. I had never heard of this before and therefore decided to look it up.

The FDA approves food and packaging materials in the U.S, including plastics before they are sold in the market. Most beverage bottles in the U.S are made from polyethyleneterephthalate (PET). PET is lightweight and is shatter resistant. PET has been extensively studied for safety and is used to bottle water, fruit juices and even beers. Are these bottles safe to re-use?
Plastics are sanitary and are no more likely to harbor bacteria than other containers. Bacteria thrive in warm and moist environments, once introduced, virtually any drinking container (mugs, drinking glasses etc) becomes a suitable environment for them to thrive in. If consumers clean their plastic bottles regularly then they are safe to use. They should be cleaned with hot soapy water and dried thoroughly.

The website I looked at talks more about studies that were conducted that found bacteria and carcinogens in the drinking water from plastic bottles. The bacteria was concluded to be found in the bottles not due to the plastic but due to the students lack of personal hygiene. The 'carcinogen' di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) was found in another study. DEHA is not regulated neither is it considered a carcinogen in the U.S.

"Is it true that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only allows plastic beverage bottles, such as those made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET), for one-time use? No, FDA allows PET to be used in food-contact applications, including food and beverage packaging, regardless of whether the packaging is intended for single or repeated use. PET beverage bottles sold in the United States are designed for single use for economic and cultural reasons, not because of any safety concerns with PET.In fact, refillable bottles made with the same PET resin as single-use bottles are safely reused in a number of other countries. The only difference is that refillable bottles have thicker sidewalls to enable them to withstand the mechanical forces involved with industrial collection and commercial cleaning and refilling operations.

Can freezing a PET beverage bottle cause dioxins to leach into its contents?This is the subject of another e-mail hoax. There simply is no scientific basis to support the claim that PET bottles will release dioxin when frozen. Dioxins are a family of chemical compounds that are produced by combustion at extremely high temperatures. They can only be formed at temperatures well above 700 degrees Fahrenheit; they cannot be formed at room temperature or in freezing temperatures. Moreover, there is no reasonable scientific basis for expecting dioxins to be present in plastic food or beverage containers in the first place."

The website URL is <http://www.plasticsinfo.org/s_plasticsinfo/sec_level2_faq.asp?CID=705&DID=2839>