Dangers of plastic packaging
Plastic is a cheap material for packaging and increasingly our food comes in plastics. Some of us can remember milk when it was delivered in glass bottles but those days are long gone.
According to an article in Chemical & Engineering News [August 31, 2009] chemicals from plastic wrappers are found to be leaching into out food and medicines. At least some of these chemicals are found to be threat to humans. Below information is from that article:
bis-phenol A (BPA): used in polycarbonate bottles and in the epoxy-resin liners of metal cans. Could cause endocrine disruption in children. Banned by Canada from use in baby bottles. FDA does not think so.
di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate: makes plastics like PVC supple and bendable. Potential carcinogen and endocrine disrupter.
polyfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid (PAPs): from waxy wrappings e.g. burger liners or inside of microwave popcorn bags. these compounds can be metabolized in the body to perfluorinated carboxylic acids, which may be carcinogenic and hormone disrupting.
Glass is inert but caps made of rubber is most problematic source of migrating chemicals. Rubber leachables are N-nitrosamines or 2-mercaptobenzothiazole.
Expensive solutions are there to make safer packaging but are we ready to pay the price for it?
My opinion is- enjoy locally grown fruits and vegetables cut down on process food and when you have to buy packaged food make sure the date of manufacture of the product was not too long ago.
According to an article in Chemical & Engineering News [August 31, 2009] chemicals from plastic wrappers are found to be leaching into out food and medicines. At least some of these chemicals are found to be threat to humans. Below information is from that article:
bis-phenol A (BPA): used in polycarbonate bottles and in the epoxy-resin liners of metal cans. Could cause endocrine disruption in children. Banned by Canada from use in baby bottles. FDA does not think so.
di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate: makes plastics like PVC supple and bendable. Potential carcinogen and endocrine disrupter.
polyfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid (PAPs): from waxy wrappings e.g. burger liners or inside of microwave popcorn bags. these compounds can be metabolized in the body to perfluorinated carboxylic acids, which may be carcinogenic and hormone disrupting.
Glass is inert but caps made of rubber is most problematic source of migrating chemicals. Rubber leachables are N-nitrosamines or 2-mercaptobenzothiazole.
Expensive solutions are there to make safer packaging but are we ready to pay the price for it?
My opinion is- enjoy locally grown fruits and vegetables cut down on process food and when you have to buy packaged food make sure the date of manufacture of the product was not too long ago.
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