Easing Earth’s Plasticular Cancer, Part 2 of 2 – safety issues as related to plastic
Reminiscent of a children’s book in which several “is not”…“is too” exchanges blend into “snot stew,” officials have been serving their own snot stew in response to demands on whether it’s safe to be ingesting the plastic chemical Bisphenol-A (BPA) – found in numerous food and drink containers, dental sealants, and consumer products. The EPA deems 50 ppb of BPA within humans as safe, yet with 95% of Americans hosting BPA and multiple nations already outlawing the chemical, their debate is anything but settled.
Reports spawning from research groups across the globe warn of links between BPA and various health concerns including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, infertility, and numerous mental and behavioral problems. Slowing the production of a potentially hazardous chemical sounds like a safe idea to many consumers, but this isn’t the case for plastic industries profiting off the 6.4 billion pounds of BPA produced annually.
Phthalates and other plastic compounds should also be under interrogation after being identified as endocrine disruptors. When these plastics hit the landfill they leach into our soil and waterways, disrupting adjoining ecosystems. In addition, weathered plastic products end up in the “Pacific Garbage Patch”- an animal’s nightmare covering an area larger than Texas and increasing tenfold every decade.
So until this “snot stew” has been properly digested, here are some changes that you can make: Sprint from plastic numbers 3, 6, and 7 as these contain BPA and are recycling losers. Avoid canned goods lined with BPA resin, don’t permit plastic wrap to touch your foods, and definitely don’t let your plastics meet any heat as it accelerates leaching. Most importantly, pass up plastic products whenever possible as none of them prove complete innocence.
Related: previously on altCon -
Easing Earth’s Plasticular Cancer, Part 1
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Great info Amanda! It’s tough avoiding the various sources of BPA. Do all can linings used for food contain BPA? How does a consumer know?
Hey Frank, Thanks for reading and voicing your concern! I unfortunately have been unable to retrieve any definite responses as to which cans are/aren’t lined with BPA. Geoff Cullen from the Can Manufacturers Institute says nearly all cans contain BPA, but a purchaser at my local food co-op believed that most non-commercial/mainstream organic companies don’t utilize the compound. He was definite, however, that Eden Foods avoids BPA (even with the cans costing them 14% more). To be sure he recommended contacting your local vendor and requesting them to contact their distributor to ask them directly, as they (sadly) respond quicker to vendors than individual consumers. Paper box soups provide another option, but they too contain a wax/plastic lining. This is a tough topic to navigate as it seems to present itself almost everywhere (Ehhh!)