Dangers Of Plastics

About three months ago, as part of Lia’s ever-increasing demand for nutritional edible goods, we added Yo Baby to Lia’s diet for breakfast. 

It seemed sensible at the time, as Yo Baby is an organic yogurt that, according to its manufacturers, helps promote brain development with its whole milk, helps body growth with calcium and protein, is all natural and certified organic, helps digestion with its active cultures, and contains reduced sugar, which is about as much as a jar of baby food fruit. Lia enjoyed this little cold, sweet treat, and for three months, she had a container’s worth of yogurt every morning. Little did we know that months later, we would discover that this very yogurt, touted to be healthy, would come in a toxic container known to be carcinogenic.

In retrospect, we should have paid more attention when we read the July 2008 issue of the ShopSmart magazine, where an article titled “How Safe Is That Plastic Container” revealed a few recycle numbers (resin identification code) to avoid, including that which contains Yo Baby. After doing a little research, I’ve deciphered the incomprehensible recycle digits and valuable information on each:

Number	Abbr	Description
	PET/PETE	Polyethylene terephthalate. Used in water bottles, juice, and sports drinks. PET breaks down over time and the toxin DEHA leaches into beverages when bottles are reused. DEHA can cause liver and reproductive problems and can cause cancer. Avoid recycling reusing because they’re porous and can absorb flavors and bacteria that can’t be cleaned.
	HDPE	Commonly used for milk jugs, liquid detergent bottles, shampoo bottles.
	PVC	Polyvinyl chloride. Commonly used for meat wrap, cooking oil bottles, and plumbing pipes.  Can cause cancer, birth defects, damage to kidneys, lungs, and reproductive organs.
	LDPE	Low density polyethylene. Commonly used in cling wrap, grocery bags, and sandwich bags.
	PP	Polypropylen. Commonly used in cloudy plastic water bottles, yogurt cups/tubs.
	PS	Polystyrene. Commonly used for disposable coffee cups, clam-shell take-out containers. Polystyrene-foam cups and clear plastic take-out containers can leach styrene, a possible human carcinogen, into food.
	PC	Polycarbonate. Commonly used for some food storage, sports bottles, and baby bottles. Contains Bisphenol A (BPA), which can cause breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, birth defects, and child hyperactivity. Can leach into food if exposed to heat or are scratched, cracked, or worm from repeated use and dishwashing.
	PLA	PLA is made from corn, potato, or sugar cane, and is safe and can be composted. Unfortunately this is also classified as “#7: Other”, along with BPA and newer non-BPA plastics.

Now you may wonder if some of these plastics are so harmful, why are they still in use? The reason is that the FDA decided that the levels of harmful chemicals leaching into food is within safety limits. Some new studies, however, seem to show that there are potential risks from even low levels of exposure, including a new draft report from the National Institutes of Health.

With that, we now move on to some practical steps for protecting you and your love ones from the toxic plastics:

• Use #2 HDPE, #4 LDPE, and #5 PP
• Use #1 PET, but don’t recycle the water/soda bottles
• Use PLA
• Avoid #3 PVC, #6 PS, and #7 PC.
• Don’t store fatty food with plastic containers or plastic wraps.
• Microwave-safe only means it won’t melt, crack, or fall apart, but toxic chemical can still leach into food. Use glass or ceramic.

And if you’re really paranoid concerned, you can even:

• When buying meat packaged with cling wrap, slice off a thin portion that came into contact with the wrap and store in glass or ceramic container or use non-PVC wrap.

Research has a tendency to keep reversing itself, and someone will probably find some toxicity in one of those recycle numbers that we trust to be safe. The only thing we can do is do our best based on what we know today.