Are there safer plastics?
We all come into contact with plastics every single day via food, some toys, our devices, garbage bags, personal care products and so much more.
Many plastics seem to be safer; they are labelled as "BPA free" or "phthlate free"... but are they really?
Sorry to say.. not really.
Plastics are made of hundreds of chemicals: more than 4000 different chemcials have been associated with plastic packaging alone! We are talking about additives, plasticizers, flame retardants, antioxidants, heat stabilizers, pigments, antimicrobials impurities from the manufacturing process and - of concern- the majority of compounds that leach from plastics remain unknown and untested for safety... all to say its not just the BPA and pthalates that make a plastic harmful.
Last year and a group of researchers in Norway, hoping to advice the public on what plastics were safe and which were best to avoid, looked at 34 everyday plastic products made of the 8 most common types of plastic to see if they contained toxic compounds. They published a follow up study just last week.
Their findings
74% percent of the products they tested were toxic in some way.
some plastics had 14 compounds migrating from them, while others (PUR) had up to 8522 readily leachable chemicals!
80% of chemicals they found readily leached from the plastics which were unknown (not to say they are all harmful but we just don’t know).
the fact that plastics are made of mixtures of thousands of chemicals means that a plastic that contains tiny amounts of- say- BPA could also contain another chemical that if combined with BPA could create a different harmful effect.... chemicals often act differently alone vs in combination with others.
Now having said this- some plastics ARE More stable than others meaning they are much less likely to leach these concerning chemicals out... so yes these are the ones we want to use when we HAVE TO use plastics. However, even these more stable plastics leached some chemicals and indirectly will afffect our health since their end of life often results in breaking down to microplastics which we are all ingesting and breathing (a new study finds infant feces contains 10 times more PET plastic than an adults. the plastic was even found in newborn poop)
So- which were the 'worse' most toxic plastics?
PVC, PUR, PP and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) generally had the highest levels of leachable compounds.
BUT, again, all plastics studies showed toxicity
Ok, and which are the 'safer' plastics?
Sadly, it just is not a straightforward answer. Products made of PE, PS, PET, and PLA (a bio plastic) leached relatively few chemicals. However, there were notable exceptions, making it impossible to generalize.
Bottom line? The focus should just be on using less plastic especially during pregnancy and childhood
How?
1. Eat fresh food. Not only is it less likely to be packaged in plastic but processed food is exposed to all kinds of plastics in the pre store phase of manufacturing. In fact, processed food is our main source of phthalate exposure today
2. Don’t be mislead by numbers in the recycling triangle, these are not indicative of safety. You might have heard to avoid “3,” “6,” and “7” since these contain phthalates, styrene, and bisphenols... but even 'safer' plastics were found to contain harmful chemcials... again focus on reducing all plastics
3. Choose filtered water over bottled water. Not only can plastic bottles contribute to exposure of toxins, but bottled water has double the microplastic levels than tap water. My top water filter picks are here
4. Slowly elimintating plastic that comes in contact with the food in your kitchen. PLastics tend to leach more when exposed to heat, oil, acidity, and abrasion so avoid placing foods that are acidic or will be heated in plastics. Glass, stainless steel and silicone are better alternatives
5. Use glass or stainless steel baby bottles. Preparing hot formula in plastic bottles could dose babies in several million micro plastic particles a day. Some of my favorite baby bottles can be found here
6. Avoid plastic toys particularly at ages when babies/young kids like to place things in their mouth. instead choose toys made with solid wood, cotton or organic fabric, natural latex. Great post on better alternatives here
7. Avoid plastic sippy cups & plates - choose glass, stainless steel or silicone. Some of my favorites can be found in my Amazon Shop
8. Keep dust low at home, particularly from toys and floors (avoid if possible carpeting made of plastic fibers like polyester in areas where kids play often)
For my vacuum recommendations read this post
SOURCES
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c01103
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b02293
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00559
https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/most-plastic-products-contain-potentially-toxic-chemicals/