Are We Tainting Our Own Food And Drink With Plastic?

I keenly recall as a kidour family using empty margarine bowls to save leftovers and other food. When we needed to heat up our food, we would simply warm the food in the plastic container. Reusing the old margarine dishes in this way was our way of not only saving money, but also keeping one more plastic container out of the landfill.

Fast forward about 2 decades. Our family is now very much aware that many plastics are made with a harmful compound called Bisphenol A (or BPA) and can free this chemical into our food or drink. Eating the tainted food or drink exposes our body to extreme amounts of this unsafe compound. BPA has been associated to various ailments, such as cardiovascular problems, diabeties and obesity.

Foods or liquids can soak up BPA from plastics just by touching them. In fact, a team of scientists at the University of Cincinnati led by Scott Belcher, PhD found that exposing the plastics to hot or boiling water, the BPA can be released up to 55 times faster than the rate it was released by mere contact. What this means is that warming up food in these plastic containers is even more dangerous that simply using them for food storage.

It's still somewhat uncertain what level of BPA is unsafe in the human body. Luckily, our bodies do a pretty good job of filtering out a large portion of our day by day toxic exposure. It seems that everyone has their own level of substance tolerance. The thing that makes BPA so unsafe, in spite of this is the way it reacts in the body. It acts as an estrogen (a human hormone), and is therefore relatively unfiltered.

It's even more unsettling to recognize that BPA is not only in plastic food containers, but also in refillable water containers, the linings of aluminum cans, dental composites and sealants and a host of other items. It is actually pretty tricky to avoid this unsafe substance.

In Canada, it has been illegal to use baby bottles that contain BPA since 2008. At the time of this writing, there is no such rule in the United States, as it seems to be completely acceptable to pay off members of the FDA to keep unsafe toxins in our food supply (just Google Charles Gelman and Martin Philbert). Luckily, some of the more forward-thinking manufacturers in the US have voluntarily eliminated BPA laden plastics from their products.

By: Sam Chucky

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For the safety of you and your family, please purchase only bottles and containers that claim to be BPA-Free. Especially in food containers (use Pyrex storage or Rubbermaid food storage containers). Also, look for BPA-Free water bottles, baby bottle and other baby items (such as pacifiers, sippy cups and toys), as babies tend to be more susceptible to BPA during development.