Don't drink the warm water...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140922110139.htm

October 8th, 2014

Don't drink the warm water? What about in tea? Or soup?

Well that is not what the study is about -- as the examples above of boiled water is different than what is meant by "warm" water, here. Scientists from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science state that drinking water that has been sitting around in a plastic bottle (not refrigerated) can be dangerous due to chemicals called antimony and bisphenol A, that may be released from the plastic of the bottle into the water -- after warming up.

Plastic bottles are made of a material called polyethylene terephthalate, which, when heated, released the chemicals mentioned above  (antimony and bisphenol A, which is also knows as BPA). BPA is said not to be a major problem by the US's FDA, as long as it is kept on a low level (such as what may be found in beverage containers).  The biggest concern with BPA is that it may negatively affect children's health -- therefore showing that BPA, although a risk, is seen more as a hypothetical and potential harm. Antimony is what should scare us more, having the ability to cause cancer in living tissue. --Imagine that, you have a risk of getting cancer from a warm bottle of water... actually, not exactly...

Science professor Lena Ma led the research team on the study, and declared that although "more research must be done", after testing 16 different brands of bottled water which were all kept at a 70 degrees Celsius balance for four weeks, the two chemicals BPA and antimony are released from the plastic bottles and hence into the water. Ma explains that this is a "worst-case scenario" type of experiment for the consumption of water by humans, and that although it cannot validate that these effects made by the chemicals that were released into the water can harm us to such an extent as getting cancer or some other dangerous sickness (because the chances that you will have a water bottle sitting around in 70 degrees Celsius for four weeks are pretty low nowadays), we should always pay attention to what we drink -- and to prevent drinking from water bottles that have been sitting around in the heat for a period of time.

“If you store the water long enough, there may be a concern” (Ma)

As I see it, this is presented only as a potentially harmful, or "only a hypothetical" situation, when in reality, the risk of something happening to a person's organism are way too high to even consider not being cautious enough. This is an issue concerning peoples' scientific literacy -- being able to read an article like this and comprehending the main message, objectives, and facts are the most important thing a person can do in a situation like this, and therefore if someone's scientific literacy is not at a very good level they could think that any sort of warm water is harmful to people, while individuals with a higher understanding of scientific literacy will analyze and understand the real intent of the article -- which is just to generally warn people about potentially noxious situations.