Health Dangers

We take a precautionary approach toward plastics, based on the assumption that all synthetic plastics can be toxic in some way, especially when they break down into tiny microplastic particles—which is exactly what is currently happening to waste plastics all over the world.

These tiny pieces of plastic are being eaten, drunk, breathed in or in some way taken in by living organisms, be they you, me, a lugworm or a blue whale. These plastics all derive from oil, natural gas or coal and are full of chemical additives that can leach out, so we prefer not to give them the benefit of doubt in this global toxic experiment that is currently underway without our consent. 

Image Credit: Alfomedeiros

ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING CHEMICALS (EDCs)

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)—things like phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA)—are a core health issue with plastics. These hormone disruptors coming out of plastics are extremely problematic, even with exposure to miniscule amounts. They are the focus of much of the current research on the dangers of plastics.

The explanation about them below goes to the heart of why plastics are hazardous to our health and underlines the paramount importance of taking a precautionary approach toward plastics.

In the late 1980s, a determined zoologist named Theo Colborn began studying the health of wildlife in the Great Lakes region of North America. Reviewing thousands of scientific studies about the effects of pesticides and industrial chemicals on Great Lakes wildlife ranging from bald eagles to beluga whales, she saw strange reports:  herring gull chicks dying in their eggs, cormorants born with eyes missing and crossed bills and domesticated mink no longer producing pups. She compiled all the data into a grid and began to see a pattern. All these uncanny effects seemed to be linked to malfunctions of the endocrine system. 

Hormones are efficient chemical messenger “keys” that control most major bodily functions such as cell metabolism, reproduction, development, behavior and even intelligence. They are made in body organs known as glands and travel to receptors—little docking station “locks”—made for them throughout the body.

In women, the ovaries make estrogen, testosterone and progesterone, while in men the testes produce testosterone. Glands keep tight control on body functions they regulate, and they like hormones to be in balance. This elegant, finely tuned realm of gland control center locks and hormone messenger keys is known as the body’s endocrine system. 

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are imposters in the body, sneaking around our bloodstream imitating natural hormones—estrogen is a common target—by barging in, taking over hormone receptors and offsetting the crucial balance of the endocrine system. They can wreak slow, steady, long-term havoc on our health, especially among the most vulnerable of us.

So where are EDCs found and how are we exposed to them? Researchers have discovered almost 1000 potential EDCs falling into numerous product categories:  plastics and rubbers, household products, personal care products and cosmetics, food additives, flame retardants, pesticides, antimicrobial agents, biogenic compounds, industrial additives, solvents, metal processing chemicals, reactants and medical and veterinary chemicals.

In 2003, Colborn created TEDX, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to compiling and disseminating scientific evidence about endocrine disruptors. The TEDX site provides a comprehensive tool for researching these chemicals by providing details on each substance and the evidence indicating it is an EDC. In the plastics and rubbers category alone they list 234 potential EDCs.

We are already seeing some of the potential plastic-related effects of endocrine disruption showing up as severe allergies to plastic in individuals, even youths. 

No long after starting Life Without Plastic, we were contacted by a young woman who is unable to eat anything that has touched or been packaged in plastic. She has been diagnosed with a severe sensitivity to plastic by allergy specialists.

After years of testing based on her symptoms—including depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ovarian cysts—she and her family suspect they have narrowed her condition down to a correlation with autoimmune encephalitis. It appears that the part of her brain creating natural estrogens is attacked by her immune system when synthetic estrogen-mimicking chemicals from plastics are introduced into her body. She is only in her teens.

Is this the tip of the iceberg?

 

IMPORTANT NOTES: While we strive to provide as accurate and balanced information as possible on our website, Life Without Plastic cannot guarantee its accuracy or completness because there is always more research to do, and more up-to-date research studies emerging -- and this is especially the case regarding research on the health and environmental effects of plastics. As indicated in our Terms & Conditions, none of the information presented on this website is intended to be professional advice or to constitute a professional service to the individual reader. All matters regarding health require medical supervision, and the information presented on this website is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician.

Throughout our website, some technical terminology is used. In the interest of making the articles accessible and not too long, dry, or complex, technical terms may be hyper-linked to more detailed explanations and relevant reference material provided in Wikipedia. Please keep in mind that Wikipedia articles are written collaboratively by volunteers from all over the world and thus may contain inaccuracies. Life Without Plastic makes no guarantee of the validity of the information presented in Wikipedia articles to which we provide links. We suggest you read the Wikipedia General Disclaimer before relying on any information presented in a Wikipedia article.

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