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Are zotz bad for you10/24/2022 ![]() That’s largely because there are so many steps and additives in the plastic-making process, says George Bittner, PhD, professor of biology at the University of Texas in Austin and lead author of the study. ![]() ![]() As this study shows, different plastics containing different types of foods will leach chemicals at different levels. There really aren’t any “safer” plastics, and it’s hard to predict which ones will leach estrogenic chemicals into your food. But baby bottles containing ethanol, which is intended to mimic milk and other foods with a higher fat content, leached more when exposed to UV light than they did when they contained a saline solution. For instance, some of the highest levels of leaching occurred in plastics containing saline solution when they were put in the microwave saline is intended to mimic vegetables or other foods with a high water content. When they were subjected to stress, the amount of leaching largely depended on what was in the packaging. And some of the baby and water bottles labeled “BPA free” showed greater estrogenic activity than polycarbonate bottles, which are made from BPA. Even when the plastics were unstressed and just exposed to various solutions, they still leached estrogenic chemicals. The researchers were able to measure some type of estrogenic chemical leaching from roughly 95 percent of all the plastics tested, including 100 percent of the food wraps and 98 percent of the plastic bags. All the plastics were filled with substances mimicking food and then subjected to three types of stress-microwave heating, moist heat similar to what they might be exposed to in a dishwasher, and UV light (simulating a water bottle left in a car during the day or a baby bottle being subjected to UV sterilization). ![]() Some of the other plastics, such as corn-based plastics and newer so-called “ BPA-free” plastic resins, were also tested. Some of the plastics tested, such as high-density polyethylene (#2 in the recycling triangle) and polypropylene (#5 in the recycling triangle), are considered safer plastics because, prior to this study, they hadn’t been shown to leach chemicals. The authors purchased 455 plastic products designed to hold food (including plastic bags and baby bottles) that were made from all different types of plastic. A study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives concludes that there really are no “safe” plastics, thanks to all the chemicals, additives, and processing aids that go into making plastic products.įor individuals that want to toss the plastic habit, you would think they could at least rely on certain types of plastics, ones labeled #2, #4, or #5, because those plastics aren’t made using bisphenol A or phthalates. In a test of nearly 500 chemical containers, the authors discovered that nearly all exhibited some kind of estrogenic activity. ![]()
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