When
grocery shopping, BPA Free labeled products are everywhere. Yet you will notice
that all these products are still made with a plastic. Many companies such as
Reynolds Wrap, have labeled their products “BPA free” but what does that really
mean? Popular replacements for BPA are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Bisphenol S (BPS),
or low density polyethylene (LDPE). But what is the toxicity of these replacement
plasticizers.
To start we
must understand the toxicity of BPA to analyze the change companies are
attempting to make with these replacements. The plasticizer BPA or Bisphenol A was
once used for the purpose of creating plastics that contained drinks and
wrapped produce in the US since the 1960’s. It was later found that BPA is
leaking toxic resins into products we ingest on daily basis such as water bottles,
canned foods and polycarbonate plastics like sceran wrap. These toxic resins
are known to cause reproductive and bladder cancer leading many consumers to
avoid BPA and seek out products labeled BPA free assuming something healthier
is its replacement. Unfortunately these replacements like PVC and BPS are just
less researched and less widely known than BPA leading to the presumption that
they are healthy when this is far from the truth. A recent study done showed
81% of Americans have detectable levels of BPS in their urine. Given the
increasing use of BPS and PVC studies have now been done and the results are
all too familiar. Scientist found that BPS and PVC are essentially just as bad
as BPA, causing disruptions of normal
cell functions leading to metabolic disorders for example obesity, diabetes,
asthma, birth defects or even reproductive or bladder cancer. With no really
safe replacements consumers are at high risk and should be cautious when
associating BPA free products with healthy products.
Sources:
Good title and interesting subject. Good graphic. Quite good explanation of the chemistry of these "endocrine disruptors". Good general interest sources. Links to the source within the text would be useful.
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