Plastic Soup

Sick of plastic

We were on the plane from Los Angeles to New York for over five hours. Time to go through the enormous pile of scientific articles that we got from Charles Moore. Piece by piece they describe the sickening effect that plastic waste has on animal and on man.

For a lay audience, these articles are almost impossible to get through, and it seems to me that this is the only reason why the results aren’t printed in headlines on every newspaper in the world: WE ARE POISONING OURSELVES.

I will only name two products and a few of their effects on our health.

Ever heard of Bisphenol A (BPA)? Probably not.

But you probably have heard of baby bottles, food packaging, and plastic wrap, Tupperware, microwave trays, most of the plastic drinking bottles, cups, and plastic cutlery; to name a few of the products. BPA is being use to produce polycarbonate plastic—the material from which all of these products are made.

When these products are used, they release bits of BPA. This increases when BPA is warmed (for example: during transport in a hot truck, having something warm inside of it, or putting it in a microwave). This can also happen when the product starts decaying (for example: on a garbage dump, on the side of the road, or in water).

Research on what happens when people ingest BPA has only started recently; but the results are already alarming. In women, BPA causes (among other things), obesity, a higher risk of miscarriage, womb deformation, and ovarian cysts. There are strong indications that BPA plays a role in the development of breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostrate cancer, other forms of cancer of the reproductive organs, and male fertility problems (such as a decrease in sperm quality and quantity).

During pregnancy, BPA affects the baby and can cause behavioral problems and birth abnormalities.

Then there are phthalates. These are softeners that are used to produce certain types of plastic. There are all kinds of phthalates, (they are all toxic), but the most toxic of them is DEHP. This is used, among other things, in the making of PVC. PVC can be found in what? Too much to name: from crown caps to shower curtains; baby mattresses to roof-gutters; carpets to children’s toys; food packaging to infusion tubes.

All PVC releases DEHP. When people ingest DEHP it causes, among other things: respiration problems, sperm damage, miscarriages, excessive rapid development of the genital organs in girls, smaller penis and scrotum, and disengaged testicles in young boys. Furthermore it causes cancer and especially increases the risk of liver cancer.

Like Bisphenol A, phthalates are transmitted from mother to child to in the womb, and later through breast-feeding.

I know what I am going to do when I get home: clear out the cupboards and take all that sick-inducing trash to a good plastics recycling service. By the way, phthalates are in everything, not only in the plastic products you would expect, but also in all kinds of cosmetics (from creams to baby towels).

I have only named two products that are added in the manufacture of plastic (and that end up in the environment or ourselves): Bisphenol A and DEHP.

Who will uncover what other man-made toxics are contained in plastic, and that end up in our bodies?

Only then we will finally develop good, safe and one hundred percent healthy, recycled plastic.

Lees deze tekst in het Nederlands.