As a society, we just can’t seem to shake our excessive use for disposable cups in exchange for our convenience. If you use your own glass cup or mug, you’re as safe as the water you drink. Take that same drink from a foam cup or plastic cup and it is a very different story. Different variations of polyethylene and paraffin line almost every disposable cup on the market. These linings, especially among low quality cups can indeed melt and get into your digestive tract leading to gastrointestinal disorders and other health issues. Exposure to BPA has only been one issue relating to disposable cups. They have been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.
However paraffin wax and polystyrene products are also an issue even without BPA linings.
Paraffin wax is well known but it’s actually derived from crude oil and dates back to Carl Reichenbach in 1830. Paraffin is classified as an alkane hydrocarbon. Paraffin is made from that same crude oil which makes everything possible including plastics, household chemicals, furniture, gasoline and house paint to name only a few. And you can easily consume paraffin without even knowing it.