JustCare

Tag: Forever chemicals

  • Minimize exposure to plastic, as much as possible

    Minimize exposure to plastic, as much as possible

    Chemicals in plastic can be harmful to our health. Yet, we can’t avoid our exposure to plastic, even in what we eat and drink. Kevin Loria reports for Consumer Reports on the dangerous health effects of bisphenols and phthalates  as well as thousands of other chemicals in plastic.

    Consumer Reports tested 100 food products and found chemicals that can hurt our endocrine and hormone systems, leading to metabolic and reproductive health issues. We don’t begin to know a lot about many of these chemicals, particularly how safe they are. Bits of plastic or microplastics end up in the air, our water and food.

    Today, likely everyone has plastic chemicals in their bodies. These plastics, sometimes called forever chemicals, include carcinogens, neurotoxic chemicals, and endocrine disruptors, which can be harmful to our organs and cause disease.

    Even when we have small amounts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in our bodies, the health effects can be consequential. They mess with our hormone levels. We are more likely to gain weight, get diabetes or be diagnosed with cancer. Our babies can have issues with brain development.

    For the most part, coal, oil and gas are used in making plastic. If you live near a plant that extracts or processes these materials, you are likely to be surrounded by dangerous chemicals, even in the air.

    Different plastics have different additional chemicals to enable them to stretch or be flame-resistant. These additional chemicals can escape the plastics to which they are attached when heated in the microwave, the dishwasher, the bathtub or stored in a plastic container. From there, the chemicals get into our bodies.

    Even our clothing and furniture is often made of plastic that can expose us to toxic chemicals.

    We continue to manufacture plastic and increasingly are exposed to it. And, our government does little to protect us from chemicals in plastics.

    What can you do to avoid exposure to plastics? 

    • Avoid storing food in plastic containers.
    • Don’t eat processed foods.
    • Don’t microwave food in plastic containers
    • Throw away plastic kitchen utensils; use wood, steel or silicone utensils instead.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Forever chemicals take big toll on our health

    Forever chemicals take big toll on our health

    Tens of thousands of miles from us, between Iceland and Norway, in the Faroe Islands, scientists are finding the toxic effects of “forever chemicals” on residents, reports The New York Times. Make no mistake, toxic “forever chemicals” are traveling long distances to get to the Faroe Islands, And, still, they appear to be doing grave harm to the health of Faroe Island residents.

    Scientists in the Faroe Islands have been studying how mercury in fish affects pregnant women and their children for nearly 4o years. They have collected blood and hair samples from more than 1,000 women and children that they can test for all sorts of chemicals. They have found low levels of mercury in women’s wombs. The risk of learning and memory impairments is high for their children.

    Fourteen years ago, the scientists began looking at the effects on these people from exposure to “polyfluoroalkyl substances, which the FDA calls PFAS and classifies “as safe,” the “A” and “S.” You can find them in countless products we use every day. No one knows precisely what harm they cause us, but we do know that they damage the immune system in rats.

    In the US, the FDA is not required to test the chemicals in our food. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act requires the FDA to create a system for studying chemicals added to foods before they come to market and to reassess their safety when new evidence suggests it is needed. But, the FDA can and has allowed companies that add these forever chemicals to our food and drinks to review their safety. And, the FDA lets these companies’ experts determine whether the chemicals are generally recognized as safe, “GRAS.”

    The scientists in the Faroe Islands knew from lawsuits in the US that some PFAS caused high cholesterol, cancer and ulcerative colitis, among other grave health conditions. The scientists found that children in the Faroe Islands had fewer antibodies than normal from tetanus and diphtheria vaccines.

    But, the difference between the children in the Faroe Islands and people in the US who filed lawsuits was significant. The US citizens had high level exposure to the PFAS toxins because DuPont had dumped PFAS waste into the Ohio River in high volumes that affected the air and drinking water. The children in the Faroe Islands had extremely limited exposure to these chemicals.

    More than 40 years ago, DuPont’s own studies showed that significant exposure to PFAS causes abnormal liver function and other serious harm. Its own workers were affected. One worker had a child with a single nostril and impaired eyes.

    For the most part, our federal government continues to allow the use of these toxic chemicals in millions of products, About one fifth of our exposure to these chemicals comes from tap water. The rest is in our food, in the air, in cosmetics and other skin products, furniture, rugs, candy wrappers and raincoats. The European Union found PFAS in organic eggs.

    Of the thousands of PFAS toxins, the Environmental Protection Agency has identified only two that are “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” The EPA says its goal is to eliminate them from tap water. Its proposed rule is not yet approved. But, the EPA says the rule “will prevent thousands of serious PFAS-attributable illnesses.”

    Meanwhile, DuPont and 3M agreed to invest $11.5 billion into cleaning public water, as a result of lawsuits. And, 3M says it is ending production of all PFAS in the next 18 months. There’s some pressure to do so, if not from the EPA. The European Chemicals Agency is proposing to forbid all PFAS in the European Union.

    Here’s more from Just Care