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What are the components in plastic packages?
"Although the world is varied and complex, everything in it—air, water, rocks, living tissue, and the almost infinite number of other objects and materials around us—is actually made up of only a limited number of chemical elements. We know today that only 91 such elements exist naturally on the Earth. They range from hydrogen, the lightest element, to uranium, the heaviest. Actually, several more elements do exist, but these have to be made artificially in laboratories (15)."
"The basic components of each chemical element are atoms. The atoms of an element consist of three kinds of particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons exist at the core, or nucleus, of the atom. One of the important ways in which these two kinds of particles differ from one another is that each proton carries a single, positive electric charge, whereas a neutron carries no electric charge. Electrons, which are much smaller than either protons or neutrons, each carry a single negative electric charge. Electrons are present at some distance away from the nucleus of a particular atom and travel rapidly around it in complex paths known as orbits. Under normal circumstances, the number of electrons orbiting around the nucleus of a particular atom is exactly equal to the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom, so that the overall positive electric charge provided by its proton is exactly balanced by the overall negative charge provided by the electrons orbiting in the nucleus (15)."
"The unique properties of each of the chemical elements are determined by their number of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Besides determining the properties of a pure chemical element, the neutron, proton, and electron content of its atom also determines its behavior in relation to other chemical elements. Although each element behaves differently and has different properties from all of the others, the atoms of different elements can combine with one another to form clusters of atoms called molecules. It is this combination that accounts for the enormous variety of chemical substances that can be found in nature and created by modern technology (15)."
"Each year hundreds of billions of pounds of commercially valuable chemicals are released into the environment as pesticides, fertilizers, paints, fuels, solvents, plasticizers, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, metals, coloring agents, flavors, fragrances, and ingredients in millions of consumer products. Nearly 100,000 of these chemicals are traded in the world's market, yet 80% of these molecules have never been tested to know their potential to induce human disease (10)."
In 2005, journalist David Ewing Duncan engaged in a guinea-pig experiment of chemical self-discovery. "He was tested for 320 chemicals that he could have picked up from food, drink, the air, and products that touched his skin—his own secret stash of compounds acquired by merely living. It included older chemicals that he might have been exposed to decades ago, such as DDT and PCBs; pollutants like lead, mercury, and dioxins; newer pesticides and plastic ingredients; and the near-miraculous compounds that lurk just beneath the surface of modern life, making shampoos fragrant, pans nonstick, and fabrics water-resistant and fire-safe (2)."
These tests are too expensive for most people. Yet, "illnesses plausibly associated with synthetic chemical exposure are increasing in prevalence; these include some respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; some forms of neurological impairment among the young; declining fertility; immune dysfunctions; and developmental disorders among the young. Collectively, these trends suggest we are conducting a dangerous and continual experiment on the resilience of human health (10)."
Plastic Resins in Food, Beverage, and Cosmetic Packages
"Nearly 100 billion pounds of plastic are produced in the U.S. each year and they play an integral role in food and beverage packaging. Plastics now comprise nearly 70% of the synthetic chemical industry in the nation and are extremely important because of the evidence that they disrupt normal growth and development in many different species of animals due to their hormonal activity. It is virtually impossible to know for certain, what is in plastic packages. Ingredients used to make plastics are not required to be labeled, and many manufacturers are unwilling to disclose their "trade secrets." Given the complexity of international plastics markets, it would be surprising if many manufactures or distributors could identify ingredients or sources of plastics in their products (1)."
"From 70 to 80 percent of food is packaged in various polymers, some of which contain potential carcinogenic (cancer-causing) agents that migrate into our food everyday. The World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. governmental agencies are concerned about certain direct and indirect food additives, but efforts at identification and protection move slowly (16). Currently the Federal Trade Commission (FCC) only offers guidelines for environmental marketing claims, designed to have an effect on labeling but not requiring or enforcing it (1) "
"Present in everyday items like panty hose and perfume, computers and catheters, baby rattles and billiard balls, plastics are so ubiquitous we seldom give them a second thought (17)." The type(s) of plastic resin found in various packaged products can be identified by their recycling symbol. An identification code identifies the six resins that account for most of the plastics used in packaging.
Here are a few examples of the plastic resins found in various packages. "Most convenience-size beverage bottles, mouthwash bottles and boil-in pouches contain Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET - #1). Milk jugs, ice cube trays, and storage containers are made of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE - #2). Cooking oil bottles, packaging around meat, baby bottle nipples, and beverage pictures contain Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC - #3). Produce bags, food wrap, bread bags, zip-lock bags, and bottle liners are composed of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE - #4). Yogurt containers, margarine tubs, and spice containers are made of Polypropylene (PP - #5). Styrofoam cups and containers, take-home boxes, egg cartons, and meat trays contain Polystyrene (PS - #6). Polycarbonate baby bottles, 5 gallon water cooler bottles, meat trays, and toddler fruit cups contain Bisphenol A (Other - #7). The code for BPA provides an excellent example of why it is so confusing to identify ingredients in plastics, given its title: Other (1)."
How do these constituents react in the body?
"Figuring out whether plastics are toxic to people at current levels of exposure is quite complex. One way scientists find out whether or not chemicals are dangerous to humans is to give high doses to animals, looking for threshold levels at which signs of toxicity appear and trying to understand the nature of the damage (17)." Consequently, most of the current data is from animal studies. Furthermore, the long-term consequences of exposure to plastics are difficult to establish, in part because early exposure can have effects observed much later in life.
"Back in the 1940s when plastics were being developed, no one suspected that chemicals leaching out of these marvelous materials could have pernicious biological effects. What industrial chemists did know was that by tinkering with a highly reactive molecule called a phenol they were able to devise countless synthetic chemicals for use in materials. Only through subsequent studies has it been shown that the estrogen receptor has a particular affinity for a characteristic molecular component of phenols (17)."
"Ninety-nine percent of what turn out to be chemical estrogens have a phenolic hydroxyl group on the molecule, and any of those can bind to the estrogen receptor," says Wade Selshons, a University of Missouri cell biologist and endocrinologist who has spent his career studying estrogen. Moreover, everything that binds to the estrogen receptor turns it on in some way. I've run across only two chemicals that fully antagonize, or switch off, the receptor (17)."
"If plastic harms, it does so by stealth; by mimicking our own hormones, by scrambling signals during development, by stimulating our own pathways excessively. And it may have that power at astonishingly low exposure levels, amounts that by typical toxicological measures look just fine. With plastics, less may be more, and a little may be a lot (17)."
"In toxicology studies, dose is everything," says Karl Rozman, a toxicologist at University of Kansas Medical Center, who contends these doses are too low to be dangerous. "One part per billion (ppb), a standard unit for measuring most chemicals inside us, is like putting half a teaspoon of red dye into an Olympic-size swimming pool. What's more, some of the most feared substances, such as mercury, dissipate within days or weeks, unless a person is constantly re-exposed (2)."
Yet, "several illnesses are rising mysteriously. From the early 1980s through the late 1990s, autism increased tenfold; from the early 1970s through the mid 1990s, a type of leukemia was up 62 percent, male birth defects doubled, and childhood brain cancer was up 40 percent. Some experts suspect a link to the man-made chemicals that pervade our food, water, and air." "There's little firm evidence. But over the years, one chemical after another that was thought to be harmless turned out otherwise once the facts were compiled. From DDT to PCBs, the chemical industry has released compounds first and discovered damaging health effects later." "Regulators have often allowed a standard of innocent until proven guilty in what Leo Trasande, a pediatrician and environmental health specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, calls an uncontrolled experiment on America's children (2)"
"Each year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviews an average of 1,700 new compounds that industry is seeking to introduce. The 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act requires that they be tested for any ill effects before approval, only if evidence of potential harm exists, which is seldom the case for new chemicals. Subsequently, the agency approves about 90 percent of the new compounds without restrictions. Only a quarter of the 82,000 chemicals in use in the U.S. have ever been tested for toxicity (2)."
"Last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took a step toward closing the gap when it released data on 148 substances, from DDT and other pesticides to metals, PCBs, and plastic ingredients, measured in the blood and urine of several thousand people. The study said little about health impacts on the people tested or how they might have encountered the chemicals. "The good news is that we are getting real data about exposure levels," says James Pirkle, the study's lead author. This gives us a place to start (2)."
"Although governments demand testing of some chemicals individually to learn their danger to human health, most people are exposed to chemical mixtures in air, foods, water, soil, consumer products, pollution or wastes. During the last half of the 20 th century scientists found that numerous synthetic chemicals can interfere with the normal function of human hormones. Colborn and Colwell in 1992 termed these hormonally active substances to be 'endocrine disrupting contaminants' (1)."
"Wildlife studies provide supporting evidence that some industrial chemicals and pollutants could also unintentionally behave like hormones. Alligators exposed to the insecticide dicofol developed reproductive abnormalities following a 1980 spill in Lake Apopka, Florida. Their egg survival rates declined and both males and females developed abnormal sexual organs. Alligators studied in nearby unpolluted lakes exhibited none of these conditions (1)."
"When pregnant mice are exposed to chemicals in plastic, the mammary and prostate tissue of their developing embryos proliferates abnormally, and sensitivity to hormones is intensified. Perhaps most disturbing is the significant increase in chromosomal abnormalities in the eggs forming in those embryos. Those are the eggs that will make up the next generation. Thus, if the worst case scenario proves true, early exposure to plastics can reshape not just our children but their children too (17)."
"Many scientists now believe that the developing fetus, infants and children may be more vulnerable to harm than adults following exposures to hormonally active chemicals. This is because organ systems, hormone pathways, and metabolic systems are still developing. In addition, young children breathe more air, consume more food and drink more water per pound of body weight than adults, and this increases their relative exposure to any chemical present in the environment. A prominent committee convened by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to consider the nature of risk posed by hormonally active chemicals has agreed that the health effects seen in animals are important signals of human health risks, especially when well correlated with increasing trends in human illness (1)."
Phthalates
"Researchers found that 80 percent of babies tested had been exposed to a class of potentially harmful chemicals called phthalates. The findings, released in the February 2008 issue of Pediatrics, shows a direct link between use of baby shampoos, lotions and powder—which contain phthalates to stabilize fragrances—and the presence of phthalates in babies' urine samples (18). Phthalates are molecules that dissolve fragrances, thicken lotions, and add flexibility to PVC, vinyl, and some intravenous tubes in hospitals. The dashboards of most cars are loaded with phthalates, and so is some plastic food wrap. Heat and wear can release phthalate molecules, and humans swallow them or absorb them through the skin. Because they dissipate after a few minutes to a few hours in the body, most people's levels fluctuate during the day (2)."
"At least a dozen studies have shown the effects of phthalates on human reproduction," says University of Rochester epidemiologist and biostatistician Shanna "Swan, the lead author of a much-cited study that showed higher exposure to some phthalates in mothers correlates with reduced "ano-genital distance" in newborn boys. Swan published the study in 2005, which was the first that looked for evidence of an obvious effect among boys. Among 134 boys aged 2 months to 30 months, she found that sons whose mothers had higher levels of certain phthalates in their urine had a shorter distance between the anus and penis. These boys were likelier to have smaller penises and incompletely descended testicles. About one-quarter of American women have the higher phthalate levels she found in her study (17)." "This was particularly evident among women working in poorly ventilated nail salons, where one especially harmful phthalate, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), is released (18)."
"Every day we are exposed to low doses of phthalates in food containers, perfumes, hairsprays, floorings, paints, toys and medical devices. These low doses may be toxic by mimicking and disrupting the body's natural reproductive chemicals. But according to the Phthalate Information Center, whose panel members include BASF Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, Exxon-Mobil Chemical Company and Ferro Corporation, there's no need to worry. The center calls these warnings 'highly misleading' and brought by 'anti-chemical lobbies' (19)."
"A new study gives evidence that infants and toddlers exposed to lotions, shampoos, and powders with phthalates may have up to four times as much of it in their urine as those whose parents do not use the products. The study, recently published in Pediatrics by Sheela Sathyanarayana of the University of Washington, looked at 163 children between the ages of 2 months and 28 months between the years 2000 and 2005. The results were alarming because manufacturers are not required to list phthalates as ingredients on labels (19)."
"The evidence on phthalates is strong enough for the European Union to have banned them in children's toys, and last October California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation, to take effect in 2009, setting stringent limits on the concentrations of phthalates in child-care products for children under age 3. The ban focuses on baby books, soft rattles, plastic bath ducks, and teething rings (2)."
Bisphenol A
"On the other hand, BPA is becoming the poster child for all our doubts and fears about the safety of plastic. New research highlighting the possible dangers of BPA has received tremendous media coverage. In mice, at least, BPA exposure at crucial stages of development includes observable changes (such as breast or prostate abnormalities) that last a lifetime (17)."
"In November 2006, a panel sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) determined that there was at least "some concern" about BPA's effect on the fetal and infant brain. Criticism of the report began even before its publication, and has dogged it ever since. Around the same time, the CDC reported that researches there had found BPA—the United States produces 6 billion pounds annually—in 93 percent of urine samples from 2,500 Americans aged 6 to 65. Children under age 12 had the highest concentrations (17)."
In response to the controversial report, "the NIH agreed to a thorough review of the findings in January of the following year. This decision came as a result of claims from scientists and public health advocates that members of the panel worked for the chemical industry and cherry-picked the data in favor of industry-funded studies, which did not test low-dose exposure to BPA. An August 2007 statement by the American Chemistry Council claims that 'BPA is not a risk to human health at the extremely low levels to which consumers might be exposed' (17)."
However, "a panel of 38 researchers headed by Biologist Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri published a report in Reproductive Toxicology last summer, warning that BPA (much like the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol) is a potential chemical time bomb that may lead to multiple problems, including a higher risk of cancer, especially if exposure occurs in the womb or an infant's early life and on an unrelenting daily basis (17)."
"Chemicals like BPA pose a challenge for conventional toxicology, vom Saal says. To determine what level of toxin is safe, researchers take a dose that has no observed toxicological effect in an animal and divide it by 10 once (to account for the differences between the species) and then again (to account for the variations among humans' ability to handle toxins); for pesticides, the dose is then divided by 10 a third time (to allow for the extraordinary sensitivity of babies and children). Although this is somewhat arbitrary, it generally gives enough room to provide protection. The first studies of BPA toxicity in the 1980s tested rats at high levels of exposure (50 milligrams of BPA per kilogram of body weight per day). Lower levels were not tested; hence, BPA was deemed safe (17)."
"When it comes to reusable bottles, however, consumers still need to do their homework. Research shows that clear bottles made of polycarbonate plastic (such as the original 32-ounce Nalgene) can leach BPA. By sipping water after a workout, you could be exposing yourself to an ingredient, in rigid plastics from water bottles to safety goggles, that causes reproductive system abnormalities in animals (20)."
"BPA has been linked to low sperm count and an increased risk of breast and prostate cancer; therefore, scientists like vom Saal and Patricia Hunt suggest avoiding reusable bottles made from plastic. They also raise serious concerns about the potential for other plastic chemicals to leach out of typical PET water bottles—especially if they sit in the hot sun. A paper released in the Journal of Reproductive Toxicology showed that the federal panel that had approved the use of BPA for use in baby bottles and food can liners did so after disregarding hundreds of relevant studies. These studies showed that BPA can cause "breast cancer, testicular cancer, diabetes, hyperactivity, obesity, low sperm counts and miscarriage in laboratory animals (17)."
"Although the US government has authority under several federal statues to regulate or prohibit the production, use, sale, and disposal of this chemical, BPA remains virtually unregulated (1)." "While chemists, biologists, geneticists, and toxicologists are piecing together the puzzle, some consumers have concluded they should simply try to limit their exposure to plastics in their own lives. 'But how do you do that?' asks Ana Sato, professor of cellular biology at Tufts University School of Medicine, who herself uses glass containers at home. For instance, the milk you're drinking was pumped through plastic tubes. And you can't store milk in permeable paper cartons — they have plastic lining (17)."
"Even if you try, you don't know whether you're limiting your exposure by 5 percent or 95 percent." BPA has been found in drinking water, in 41.2 percent of 139 streams sampled in 30 states, even in house dust. Even if we could regulate BPA to levels that were safe, Sato cautions, "zero plus zero is actually not zero. By that I mean, you can take 10 estrogenic chemicals at doses that on their own don't have an effect, but if you add them together, you end up with problems. BPA is only one of many estrogenic chemicals in our environment (17)."
"Hunt who demonstrated that BPA exposure in utero disrupts the earliest stages of egg development, hopes along with other scientists that their research will catch the attention of the public even more so than industry or policymakers. 'I'm struck by how fast companies respond to consumer demand,' she says. When our study broke in 2003 and the media came calling, I kept saying that what concerns me the most are baby bottles. They're polycarbonate, and it doesn't stand up well. I got a call from a baby bottle manufacturer one day, and he said, 'What's going on? We're getting calls from consumers.' And I was amazed to see how rapidly new polymers came on the market for baby bottles. Indeed, sales of glass and non-polycarbonate baby bottles are rising (17)."
How do they impact the environment?
"At the center of the Pacific Ocean in a windless, fishless oceanic desert twice the size of Texas, a swirling mass of plastic waste converges into a gyre containing an estimated six pounds of non-biodegradable plastic for every pound of plankton. Called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is an indelible mark of human domination of the planet. But plastic has also left its mark in us. Plastics make their way in our urine, saliva, semen, and breast milk. Two in particular stand out: BPA (used in polycarbonates and resins) and phthalates (used to make plastic soft and pliable). Both upset the way certain hormones function in the body, earning them the designation of endocrine disrupters (17)."
"Environmental endocrine disrupters can be categorized into three sources: pharmaceuticals, "phyto-estrogens" that occur naturally and include soybeans and peas; and environmental disruptors including pesticides, industrial chemicals, metals, BPA, phthalates, and some solvents. Increasing attention has more recently been directed to PCB's, dioxins, and numerous pesticides. Other elements that may affect reproductive health include arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury (1)."
"The Associated Press reported in March 2008 that 'a vast array of pharmaceuticals— including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones—have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.' Environmental Health Perspectives reported in 2005, 'roughly 100 pharmaceuticals have now been identified in rivers, lakes and coastal waters throughout Europe and the United States' (18)."
"Given the stakes, why take a chance on potentially toxic chemicals? Why not immediately ban them? Except for some pollutants, every industrial chemical was created for a purpose. Even DDT, the arch villain of Rachel Carson's 1962 classic book Silent Spring, which launched the modern environmental movement, was once hailed as a miracle substance because it killed the mosquitoes that carry malaria, yellow fever, and other diseases. It saved countless lives before it was banned in much of the world because of its toxicity to wildlife (2)."
"The key is learning more about these substances, so we are not blindsided by unexpected hazards, says California State Senator Deborah Ortiz, chair of the Senate Health Committee and the author of a bill to monitor chemical exposure. We benefit from these chemicals but there are consequences, and we need to understand these consequences much better than we do now (2)."
What happens to the container of a single-use plastic package?
"Packaging has rapidly become an integral part of how all of us meet our daily needs. One might even say that a tendency toward over packaging is ingrained in our culture, psyche, and economy. Nearly 60 percent of all packaging is made for food and beverages. The global market for packaging is estimated at $500 billion, with a growth rate of 4 percent per year (21)."
"There is no doubt that packaging fulfills invaluable functions in a global economy that provides basic necessities as well as consumer and commercial goods to billions of people every day. Modern packaging's essential services—product protection, transportation, convenience, safety, hygiene, nutrition, spoilage prevention, information, branding, merchandising, theft-proofing, and regulatory compliance — are widely acknowledged. These services should not be underestimated (21)."
"However, nearly one-third of the gross weight and half of the volume of America's municipal solid-waste stream are composed of packaging materials—-at least 300 pounds per person per year. A study by the Grassroots Recycling Network reported that, between 1990 and 1997, plastic packaging grew five times faster by weight than plastic recovered for recycling. Each year more than 150 billion single-use beverage containers are sold in the United States (21)."
"The American Plastics Council estimates that only about 5% of all plastics manufactured are recycled, and this is optimistic. Some types of plastic are recycled more frequently, including PET soft drink bottles (34% recycled) and HDPE milk and water bottles (29%). However, others including DEHP-containing PVC plastics, BPA-containing polycarbonate plastics, and polystyrene (its production involves the use of known and suspected human carcinogens) are rarely recycled (1)."
"Plastic is recyclable depending on the resin type(s) and whether local systems exist to reuse, recover, and reprocess them. The resin identification code which was designed to facilitate recycling does not identify chemical ingredients in plastic products. There is no federal law requiring this code, although many states have legislation mandating the use of the codes on some types of bottles. There are no federal methods to ensure the proper use of the codes (21)."
"Although two plastic types (HDPE and PET) achieve relatively high reuse and recovery rates in some countries, overall plastic packaging recycling remains abysmally low. In fact, the current trend is toward layering different plastic material into single-use "smart" packages, making recycling impossible or economically impractical. Also, the manufacturing and incineration of some plastics, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), are so toxic that many experts argue that they should be banned outright (21)."
"Environmental concerns are sending people back to their taps. It takes 15 million barrels of oil per year to make all of the plastic water bottles in America, according to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI). Once people drain the bottles, they rarely recycle them. CRI says 8 out of 10 water bottles end up in landfills. It takes 1,000 years for plastic bottles to break down, CRI estimates. If more states added deposits on bottled water bottles, it might spur recycling. Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) has even proposed a national beverage bottle bill (20)."
"We have such a consumption mentality, which leads to our throw-away society, says David Wilk, a Connecticut publisher and tap water activist who started the website Turntotap.com to help reduce the amount of plastic going into landfills. Others, like Richard Girad, a corporate researcher for the Ottwa-based Polaris Institute, dislike the hypocrisy they perceive in the marketing of bottled water. More than half of all bottled water is simple filtered tap anyway. We want the bottled water corporations to be held accountable for their actions (20)."
"Nestle has been seeking environmental approval for what would be the largest water bottling plant in the U.S—one million square feet in McCloud, California—against community protests. High school activists are raising questions about why their school board members are locking them into a contract with Coke or Pepsi (makers of Aquafina and Dasani bottled water) when they have access to drinking fountains for free. Bottled water industry groups, such as the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), say they are being unfairly targeted. They argue that bottled water companies are responding to environmental concerns by making lighter bottles that require less plastic in the manufacturing process (20)."
"The dramatic increase in plastic packaging, single-use disposable food containers, and shopping bags, collectively know as "white pollution," has prompted increasing numbers of Asian cities and national governments to impose bans on certain types of disposable packaging. Transforming our packaging systems is necessary, not just through simple materials substitution or incremental changes of eco-efficiency, but through the deeper systems approach. The time has come to address what has become an absurdly over packaged world. We must establish systems that honorably and rationally support trade but at the same time protect natural systems and habitats from which all things are derived. This is a vision of not only a better world but also one with a conscious, self-healing capacity (21)."
Children of the Sun
the time has come
for us to work together
to make the world better
"Envision a zero-waste society, one in which consumer goods and the packaging that wraps them are no longer repositories of spent energy and materials. Those sacred materials feed new jobs, new forms of economic development, and new durable goods. Now imagine a society powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Imagine it in less than 25 years as is the policy and plan for both San Francisco and Oakland, California (21)."
"Because we are faced with pressing problems such as global climate destabilization, total destruction of irreplaceable ecosystems, and widespread species extinction, you might think issues such as industrial and household packaging are low on the list of environmental priorities. But packaging is part and parcel of lifestyles that have become almost completely disconnected from Earth's natural cycles and capacity to process our industrial wastes (21)."
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