You Are What You Eat, Drink and Breathe
You Are What You Eat, Drink and Breathe
By Viola Woolcott
Eating or drinking things that are kept in plastic, tasting it, smelling it, wearing it, sitting on it, and so on, plastic is incorporated into you. FACT: The plastic gets into the food and drink. The food and drink gets into the plastic. AND the plastic gets into YOU. Literally, you are what you eat . . . drink . . . breathe — PLASTIC!
Nearly all packaged foods are in contact with plastic. As it gets in contact with food, it migrates toxins into it. Migration is the movement of free toxins from plastic into the substances they get in contact with — in this case it is your food. The corresponding toxicological effects of the amount of migration are highly disputed subjects.
Example: Most cardboard milk containers are coated with plastic. To preserve its freshness, it is sprayed on both commercial and organic produce and plastic is also used to irrigate, mulch, wrap and transporting organic foods.
Another Example: To protect the cut stem of organic bananas from black mould, wholesalers wrap them up in sticky plastic before delivering them. The cut ends of non-organic bananas get dipped in fungicide to control the mould.
Knowing the chemical make-up of any plastic is impossible without paying an independent lab for an analysis a substantial amount of money, as plastic manufacturers are hiding behind their trade secrets, which is also true with nearly all consumer products.
Polymerisation is the process where under great heat and pressure plastic is produced by combining monomers into polymers. For each plastic, every manufacturer has their own formula and uses a different variety of additives, which are without our knowledge or approval added regularly to plastic consumer goods, i.e. plasticiser for flexibility, UV filters for protection from sunlight, antistatic agents, flame-retardants, antioxidants, colorants, mercury, heavy metals like cadmium, lead and countless other toxic chemicals, including the use of additives and chemicals to facilitate production such as mould releases.
PVC would be rigid without a plasticiser additive. It acts as a lubricant to allow those molecules to slide by each other, therefore flex. Containers we use for food and/or water are also made out of it. Barbie dolls are also made out of it. From day one, the plasticiser migrates from it, with the visibility of it weeping out as it ages. Even at extremely low concentrations, plastics, their processing chemicals and additives are toxic and it is especially relevant that extremely low doses can also upset the natural balance of the endocrine system.
The endless list also includes beauty products such as nail polish, eyeliner, deodorant and aftershave. Household cleaning products, carpet cleaner, polish, and air fresheners that are solid, plug-in, or spray. Gas and diesel engine exhaust are also included.
Water bottles are made from a variety of plastics — polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl), to name a few. To some degree they all migrate. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is just one of the chemicals that migrates out of plastic. It is used to make products with high use and big sales profits. There is a long list of products containing BPA. Containers such as drinking water and baby bottles are made of PC. It is also used for syringes, containers, lenses, and dental products in the medical industry. BPA was also found in samples of plastic baby bottles at worrisome levels.
No matter what origin, note that all exposures are important, relevant and cumulative. Part of the total effect, can even be other chemicals that act in the body in similar ways. As toxins enter the body, the natural defences try to break them down.
Even some materials in tooth replacement, called ‘ceramic’ have a polymer matrix. Excellent choices are gold caps or crowns, but even they are glued into place with a volatile polymer.
It is very common today that dentists coat children’s teeth with dental sealants that polymerise (harden) within the mouth. This BPA exposure is large enough to have biologic effects. Like it is with other plastics, dental sealants imperfectly polymerise, leaving free monomers to be absorbed through the skin within the mouth or to be ingested. The choices are very limited when it comes to dental solutions without the use of plastic.
The purposeful avoidance of the painfully evident negative human and environmental health effects are masked with the focus of the wonders of plastic.
Related link: Home-Schooling-UK
Filed under: Dare 2B Aware on December 1st, 2007
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