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.
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