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The Terrible Truth About Plastic You Never Knew

plasticAs plastic ages or is exposed to heat or stress, it can release trace amounts of some of its ingredients. Of particular concern are bisphenol-a (BPA), used to strengthen some plastics, and phthalates, used to soften others.

These chemicals are used in hundreds of household items; BPA is in everything from baby bottles to can linings, while phthalates are found in children‘s toys as well as vinyl shower curtains. They enter your body through the food, water and bits of dust you consume, or are simply absorbed through your skin.

BPA and phthalates are endocrine disrupters, which mimic hormones. Estrogen and other hormones in relatively tiny amounts can cause vast changes, so researchers worry that BPA and phthalates could do the same, especially in young children.

To cut down on your exposure, avoid plastic bottles and toys labeled with the numbers 3 or 7, which often contain BPA or phthalates, and canned foods, especially those with acidic contents like tomatoes. You should also avoid heating plastic in microwaves.

Sources:

Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

The dangers of plastic are fast becoming common knowledge. It’s amazing the number of blogs and news articles now devoted to reducing plastics’ use, when just a few years ago most people never thought twice about it.

In recent years, major changes have come about signaling that attitudes are changing about this pervasive toxin:
  • Whole Foods stopped using plastic bags
  • Canada has declared the plastics’ chemical BPA toxic and banned its use
  • You can now purchase reusable shopping bags in just about every U.S. grocery store (unheard of a couple of years ago)
  • Wal-Mart is phasing out BPA-containing baby bottles, Nalgene bottles have gone BPA-free and Amazon.com has an entire BPA-free section
This is a perfect example of the public’s actions and preferences dictating the direction of major corporations!

For Those Who Don’t Know … Why Plastics are a Big Problem

Plastic is not an inert substance as its manufacturers would like you to believe. It contains chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which mimic hormones in your body. Even tiny concentrations can cause problems, and you’re likely being exposed from all angles: food containers, plastic wraps, water bottles, personal care products, you name it, it contains plastic.

According to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, BPA was detected in the urine of 95 percent of people tested!

This is alarming when you consider all of the problems its been linked to like:
  • Structural damage to your brain
  • Hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, and impaired learning
  • Increased fat formation and risk of obesity
  • Altered immune function
  • Early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles, and ovarian dysfunction
  • Changes in gender-specific behavior, and abnormal sexual behavior
  • Stimulation of prostate cancer cells
  • Increased prostate size, and decreased sperm production
Anytime you eat or drink something out of plastic, you risk exposure. Plastics that are worn out or scratched may leach even more chemicals into your food, as do hot beverages. Just by drinking coffee from a plastic-lined paper cup, you could be exposed to 55 times more BPA than normal.

As usual those most at risk are children and fetuses, which is why it’s appalling to think that these chemicals are commonly used in baby bottles and children’s toys.

I haven’t even touched on plastics’ impact on the environment, but this one statistic sums it up pretty well: when researchers tested the water of the Pacific Ocean, they found it contained six times as much plastic as plankton, by weight!

What’s Hidden in Your Plastic Products?

The Ecology Center in Berkeley, California has put together an excellent list that exposes just what kinds of plastic toxins are in the products you use. I think everyone should read the entire list, but here are some highlights:
  • Salad dressing and cooking oil bottles: This plastic container is made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which leaches plasticizers (lead, cadmium, mercury, phthalates and the carcinogen, diethyl hexyphosphate) into your food.
  • Soda bottles, water bottles, peanut butter jars and cooking oil bottles: Made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the leach acetaldehyde -- a probable human carcinogen, according to the EPA -- into your food and drinks.
  • Meat trays, foam take-out food containers and cups, foam packing materials: Made from polystyrene (PS), these materials leach styrene, which can damage your nervous system, into your food.
Moving Toward a Plastic-Less Life

Is it possible to go completely plastic-free?

Well, anything is possible … but it wouldn’t be easy. Plastic is in shoes, clothing, electronics, and just about every processed food package, not to mention cars, household items and personal care product packaging.
There are some things you can do though, and you won’t even have to sacrifice much to do them. Just imagine how much less plastic we could use if we ALL tried to do our part.

My top tips to reduce the plastic in your life are:

1. Boycott plastic shopping bags. Use reusable canvas or cloth varieties instead. (This also applies to the plastic produce bags in the grocery store.)

2. Don’t buy bottled water. Filter your own using a reverse-osmosis filter and put it in a glass bottle.  I am going to be helping you in this area soon as my team is just finishing up a glass water bottle that you can use to carry around with you. It is covered with a neoprene sleeve to protect it from breaking and has a easy lid to drink from and is wide enough so you can easily clean the bottle.  I hope to have them available in the fall as they are at the factory right now being produced.

3. Avoid using plastic cups, utensils, dishware and food storage containers. If you get a beverage while on-the-go, bring your own cup with you.

4. Buy toys made of natural fabrics instead of plastic.

5. Look for products that use minimal packaging, or buy in bulk.

6. Give up plastic wrap (and never use it to cover your food while it’s heating).

7. Avoid buying canned foods and drinks (the can linings contain plastic chemicals). Try your hand at canning fresh produce at home instead.

8. Parents, use cloth diapers instead of plastic ones.

9. Look for non-plastic home items like cloth shower curtains and wooden spoons instead of plastic ones.

10. If you have pets, use biodegradable bags to clean up after them.


Related Links:



Comment on This Article Community Comments (78)
 
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

Here is a big one you will want to eliminate that is made from the same stuff as plastics...LAUNDRY DETERGENT! Detergents are not soaps, but are actually petrochemicals derived from crude oil. We have to eliminate these petrochemical detergents from our lives.

Think about it...they are not totally rinsed out and are on our skin constantly, day and night. And we are constantly breathing these toxins in. The only time they aren't on our skin is when we are in the shower. After we wash our clothes, we then dump these petrochemicals into the environment, which eventually end up

back into our tap water. There is no more pervasive toxin in our life. GET RID OF THE DETERGENTS!

I completely agree with Dr. Mercola that we need to eliminate the plastic in our lives as much as possible. But eliminating laundry detergent will keep these toxic crude oil derivatives from seeping directly into our skin and being breathed in all day.

Here is an article talking about the "secret"

<a href="www.lifenatural.com/laundry-detergent.htm">ingredients in detergents</a> (notice they don't list them on the label). The Sierra Club is sounding the alarm about Nonylphenol Ethoxylate, which has been banned in the EU and Canada, but is a main ingredient in U.S. laundry detergents! We have to do

something now about the most widely used human and environmental toxin on earth.


 
healthiswealth
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 7/2007
healthiswealth  
Replied

healthiswealth
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 7/2007
healthiswealth  
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

I messed up that link. Sorry! Here it is:

www.lifenatural.com/laundry-detergent.htm



C Ed Wright
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2007
C Ed Wright  
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

But then again, come to think of it, you could just as easily rerinse detergent-washed clothes several times as well, by putting each load through a few complete cycles without adding detergent, just plain water, to rinse out all the detergent residues instead of the soap residue.

If anyone thinks that's a lot of extra work, remember that grandma, great-grandma, great-great-grandma, and so on back to the beginning of mankind, had to do all that by hand -- at least we have set-it-and-forget-it washing machines.  And we don't even have to boil the wash water over the fire anymore, either.  So stop whining.



aemit
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2007
aemit  
 
Posted On Aug 01, 2008

Anyone using those laundry balls? I wonder if they really work.



healthiswealth
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 7/2007
healthiswealth  
 
Posted On Aug 01, 2008

Just to comment on re-rinsing the detergent washed clothes over and over--respectfully, this is an ENORMOUS waste of fresh water resources. Washing machines use 20-40 gallons of water per cycle, and then these flushed chemicals get into the fresh water supply, which is already massively stressed. The experts have been saying we have already reached "peak oil", and the supplies will be dwindling from here on out. Now they are sounding the alarm about "peak water". We could survive without oil. We CANNOT survive without clean, drinkable water.

And even if you did multi rinse your clothes to get the detergents out--it won't work. They have toxic chemicals called "optical brighteners" which semi permanently embed themselves in the garment to reflect more light and appear cleaner. You can't get them out.

Laundry detergents are the greatest environmental and health threat in the 21st century because they are simply everywhere, and everyone uses them. We have got to sound the alarm before it is too late and our water sources are beyond repair. Nobody should be forced to drink Nonylphenol Ethoxylate and all of the other toxic petrochemicals in detergent.  



Nikitita
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2008
Nikitita  
 
Posted On Aug 02, 2008

I use Miracle Wash Laundry Balls .These ones are specially made for Australian Sales (no others are formulated this way) and contain :

No Sodium Lauryl Sulphate

No Petrochemicals

No Harsh Detergents

No Toxic Chemicals

No Animal Testing

They are environmentally friendly in every way and they save water too.

I have been using them for nearly 3 years & I have to say I AM IMPRESSED ! But the other great thing is they are fantatstic for travellers & easy to look after.My son used them for 2 years while he travelled through Europe and they were so handy.You can check them out here www.laundryball.com.au/index.php

but I expect you would find similar in most countries although probably not quite so clean & green as these.



Nikitita
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2008
Nikitita  
 
Posted On Aug 02, 2008

Oops sorry but the link I provided for Aussie Brew Laundry Balls appears to be incomplete so here is another one in case you want to have a read about them.

To have a look at Miracle Wash Laundry Balls website and down load the FREE report on “What Harmful Chemicals are in Your Laundry Detergents”

click on this link…. www.laundryball.com.au/index.php



ardentangel
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2007
ardentangel  
 
Posted On Aug 02, 2008

The detergent is bad, but what about the clothes themselves. Just try finding pure cotton clothing or fabric. It's not easy. All cotton bras are almost non-existent (gee, I wonder why breast cancer is increasing????) Pure cotton is not easy to care for either -lots of ironing. Some of the dies used for cotton are also made from petrol chemicals. Every time acrylics are washed they can potentially leach harmful chemicals.

Just goes to show that when we complain about one thing, it leads to complaining about a whole list of things. The one nice thing about changing to glass is you can find lots of it at resale shops and yard sales. As most people move to plastic because it's inexpensive and durable, they get rid of their glass and ceramic.



Mercola Fan
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2006
Mercola Fan  
 
Posted On Sep 11, 2008

hey aemit...I have the laundry balls...they work GREAT!!


 
 
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

Shoes,clothes and furniture covers can be made from hemp.Hemp is very cheap to grow.Hemp was made illegal to grow by a man who made silk stockings.Most people couldn't afford them so they made it from hemp nd they looked just as nice.This cut down on his business.You can make anything from hemp.Making paper from hemp can save our forests too.Almost anything you can make from plastic can be made from hemp.Clothes made from hemp don't wear out as fast or shoes.They can be passed down to your last kid.


 
sunshine50
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 4/2008
sunshine50  
 
 
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

I'd like to hear some suggestions for making ice cubes. What is the verdict on those silicone trays? And what about the silicone baking trays too? I am afraid of them as well, but have found no articles saying they are bad.


 
pomly
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 7/2008
pomly  
Replied

Pat Ormsby
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2006
Pat Ormsby  
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

I second your request for information.  A search on "silicone" only turns up breast implants.


 
 
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

I for have given up as much plastic in my life as I can.

I have bought my own water purification unit and store the water in glass gallon and half gallon water bottles.

I have liter size bottles at all computer stations and at bedside, and use ceramic cups with them

I buy Pellegrino in the bottles, and avoid anything that I can that comes in plastics, by way of food, or drink, or anything I put on my skin..

Even my Organic EVO comes in metal containers, as well as my Braggs ACV, or fresh lemons or limes,  that I use for salad dressings.

I use ceramic and wood dishes, and stainless or wood utensils, wear only natural fibers.

But i just don't know what to do about NUMBER ONE on the list !

Every time I read an article on  the environmental impact of  plastic shopping  bags and that I should avoid their use at food stores, the question comes to mind what to use as a garbage bag?

I am wondering what Dr. Mercola and his staff use?  

I have been using my bags from groceries, as I need  bags that are strong enough and impervious enough to support raw veggie and fruit scraps and oils, and pet waste.  

My feeling is that, at least the bags that my groceries come in would be put to good use,  rather than buying plastic bags to use.

What would be the rationale for not using grocery bags, and then buying plastic bags to put the waste in?

I would like to hear from readers, as well as the Mercola people,  what they use for garbage disposal?

If I could find an affordable substitute that would handle the kind of waste that I have, I would be more than happy to give up the grocery bags, even though I only go shopping once a week to conserve on petrol chemical pollution and the high cost of gasoline, and would have to cart around many of them.

For right now, I find that using the plastic bags that the groceries come in, is the most efficient thing to do.

Of course, if there are only a few things I forgo bags altogether.  But I don't see the reasoning of giving up plastic shopping bags, only to have to buy and use plastic garbage bags.

Please let me know if anyone has found acceptable, affordable solutions for this problem.

Thanks ~


 
HealthfullLee4U
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 11/2007
HealthfullLee4U  
Replied

aemit
Novice User Novice User Joined On 8/2007
aemit  
 
Posted On Aug 01, 2008

I live in Japan and in this particular area where I live, some time ago plastic became burnable trash which means that we can now throw all plastic items together with the other burnable stuff. Yes, in the plastic shopping bags. Then the whole thing is burned and I always wonder what happens to the remains after burning and there are probably filters and everything but how much also gets into the air, if any.

I also use my own bag for shopping and if not, then I use the plastic shopping bags for the trash.



Prey4Pets
Novice User Novice User Joined On 7/2007
Prey4Pets  
 
Posted On Aug 01, 2008

HealthfulLee, why are you putting veggie & fruit scraps in the *garbage* in the first place? Have you no compost bin or pile? If your pets are fed a species-appropriate diet, their waste (and natural clay or corncob-based litters) can also go in the compost. Recycle everything else.

We recycle, compost, and burn our trash. We live in the country, so we can do that... unfortunately, the local yokels can burn their trash too, and they often burn mattresses, TVs, styrofoam, etc. along with all their plastic packaging, thus releasing plenty of PCBs and junk into the air for the rest of us to breathe. So much for country air being "clean" eh?

Point is, we recycle, compost, and burn (paper/cardboard/cotton only!!), and WE eat a lot of processed foods... the only thing in our "regular garbage" is plastic packaging that isn't recyclable, lids/caps, etc. If you didn't eat as much packaged food as we do, you could probably reduce your garbage to near zero, thus eliminating the need for plastic garbage bags to put your plastic garbage into. We take a pickup-truck load of trash to the landfill about once a year, for a grand total of about $8.00 (plus fuel, another $10).

We take our plastic shopping bags back for recycling, after using them at least once more to line our recycle bins. We're using reusable shopping bags too - but there's always those times when you forget to bring them...



emoritz
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
emoritz  
 
Posted On Aug 15, 2008

If you bring all your groceries home in plastic shopping bags, you probably end up with more bags than you need to take out the garbage. You could take some reusable cloth bags to the grocery store and just accept a couple plastic bags to use for garbage.

Recycling plastic grocery bags is not an effective strategy, even though we have been led to believe it is. It costs $400 to recycle a ton of plastic bags that can be sold for $40 on the materials market. Since this does not make good economic sense, the bags that consumers have faithfully put into the recycling bin have been shipped to China, India, Nigeria, or whatever country is currently being used as a dumping ground for US waste. Not a pretty picture.

Compost bins, the enclosed tumbler type or something similar, are perfectly acceptable on a small city lot. I have two of them tucked into the trees and bushes so no one can find the sight offensive. It really cuts down on the garbage when you can compost all your produce trimmings.

Even though I always carry my cloth shopping bags, we still end up with a few plastic bags coming into the house-way more than I need for our one bag of garbage per week. Nothing that comes into the house gets out empty if it can hold trash-a large envelope that came in the mail, the bag the apples came in,the bag from the kitty litter, there is never a shortage of "containers." They are just a bit unconventional, but unconventional is my middle name, so that isn't a problem! If you give it a little thought, you will find that you don't need very many plastic bags. As the comedy group Firesign Theater said back in the early 70s, "We need to rid ourselves of the expediency complex."


 
 
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

Has anyone thought about the fact that the entire insides of most of our refrigerators are made of *plastic*?!


 
geobio
Novice User Novice User, Joined On 9/2006
geobio  
Replied

C Ed Wright
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 6/2007
C Ed Wright  
 
Posted On Jul 31, 2008

And what matters is WHICH plastic.  It's NOT softened pvc giving off phthalates and it's NOT in contact with food, so it's probably okay.  Really.  Sometimes plastic's actually okay.


 
 
 
 
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