Energy, Climate, Environment

Health Concerns

The "enjoy it now, worry later" mentality brings us to the worrying component. Vinyl chloride, which is used to make a seemingly non-threatening plastic called polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and is used in dry cleaning agents, is now the possible suspect for liver carcinoma.¹³ Workers in a plastics factory that were exposed to vinyl chloride were diagnosed with this rare cancer: coincidence? Vinyl chloride is also an organochlorine (a compound made of carbon, chlorine and usually hydrogen). This little tidbit of information is important because organochlorines dissolve more easily in fats than water. Evidence is clearly seen in Inuit mothers who were shown to have evidence of the Mirex, an organochlorine used in pesticides and plastics, in their breast milk.¹⁴

In the 1990's toxic deposits from municipal-waste and hazardous-waste plants were found in Europe's land commonly used for grazing. These organochlorines were deposited in the milk of the cows.¹⁵ So once they enter the body, they are easily stored in fatty tissue than the bloodstream. Follow along here: the cow eats the grass contaminated from the groundwater that has organochlorines. The humans drink the milk that is high in fat or eat the beef that has fat. The humans…well...you can fill in the blanks from here.

In 1956, a poor, predominately African-American community known as the West End in Louisville, Kentucky found itself in the center of an environmental microscope. Students were given "sniff kits" as a means to measure of air quality. Technicians from the local B. F. Goodrich Company, one of the world's largest rubber and tire manufacturer, joined the MCA to determine possible harm to the neighbors of their plant. The manufacturing industry discretely distracted the MCA and the need to protect citizens was overshadowed with the need to have more plastic. Almost twenty years passed and the first deaths that could be proven to be caused by cancer were substantiated by that plant.¹⁶ Was it a coincidence?

More evidence of health issues exists when we investigate a geographic area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. Low labor costs, rich natural resources, few environmental regulations and tax breaks led many corporations to this area.¹⁷ Louisiana had become a leading producer of vinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride. These industrial companies set up shop and partake in the big business of oil. Impoverished residents, primarily African-American, were soon employed at many of these facilities and lived in the communities nearby.

As years passed, residents throughout the area complained of fumes and vinyl chloride emissions.¹⁸ In the 1980's and 1990's, residents in two communities near a Dow plant discovered that many of their water wells were filled with pollutants from the production of vinyl chloride. As a solution, Dow offered to purchase the town in an effort to relocate the citizens. Should this be considered a kind gesture or damage control before an outbreak of legal actions and negative publicity? Freed slaves had earlier settled in this area. The historical wasteland and toxic inheritance was no prize for these residents. All but twenty Morrisonville residents took the offer and left their beloved homes. This area is now known as Cancer Alley (this name doesn't leave much to the imagination for the consequential disease). Exxon, Shell, Chevron, and Marathon, Boise-Cascade and Georgia Pacific, AlliedSignal, Dow, Dupont, Monsanto, BASF, IMC-Agrico, Uniroyal, and Union Carbide were among the 136 industrial giants that burned and dumped toxins released from plastics into the atmosphere.¹⁹ Unassuming Americans lived under the clouds that rained toxins into the soil and breathed the air that they could not escape.

In the mid 1950's General Motors did not obtain a permit to dump its toxic waste at a plant in New York. For more than fifty years, the Akwesasne Mohawks, who were neighbors to the GM plant, lived off the land they worshipped. They ate the fish and grew their foods from the rich soil provided by the nearby rivers. They swam in watering holes that became a runoff resting place from toxins released as dump heaps grew around the Native American treasure.²⁰ What they found was a whole lot of polychlorinated biphenyls or PCB's. PCB is another one of those organochlorides that easily enters the body. The landfills, provided by General Motors, leached PCBs into the groundwater and the rivers. Suddenly there was an epidemic of cancers, diabetes, respiratory disease and thyroid problems on the reservation.²¹ Because the toxicity of PCBs increases as they move along the food chain (called bioaccumulation), humans who are exposed to these toxins from so many sources became collection vessels of toxicity. The then Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, demanded the cleanup and threatened criminal action because General Motors had known for at least 15 years that they were harming these people.²²

The exposure of bisphenol-A,(BPA), one type of plastic that is mainly found in hard and clear polycarbonate plastics is a clear indication that our future is at risk. Specifically, it can be found in plastic food wrap and containers, the inner coatings of metal cans, water bottles, baby bottles, and water pipes. The CDC has found that "95 percent of human urine samples tested has measurable BPA levels,".²³ BPA travels easily across placenta and has been shown to be harmful to male and female reproductive organs in animal studies.²⁴ A recent study showed that low blood levels of BPA are related to ovarian disease.²⁵ It can be assumed that many other dangers may not be addressed until future incidents of health concerns arise due to lack of research before newer plastics are distributed.

Fast forward to your exposure to plastics. Some of the old culprits are still with us. We transport ourselves and our families in the safest, plastic enhanced automobiles with the thought that we are making thoughtful decisions with good intentions. New cars were comprised of approximately 136 kilograms (300 pounds) of plastic bumper to bumper by 2008.²⁶ Constant communication is provided at our fingertips with our cell phones and information is only a click away with our computers and peripheral devices. Our houses are wrapped in Tyvek (plastic that protects the house from moisture) and our water is delivered through PVC pipes for drinking, laundering, and bathing. Wait before you quench that thirst!!! Designer water is perfectly packaged for our on-the- go lifestyle, mobile and compact for proper hydration. All the while toxins from these plastics easily enter our bodies from literally thousands of opportunities of exposure to plastics.

Our precious babies are swaddled in plastic diapers, nourished from plastic bottles, accessorized with the latest trendy toys and trinkets to keep their attention. They roll around in great laughter on our plastic rugs and carpets, are clothed in our plastic textiles, and sleep in cribs coated in plastic ladled paints. Our best intentions are to provide comfort and safety for them. Do they have a choice in the toxic environment that we have chosen for them?