What is the latest scoop on toxicity in plastics? We are now hearing that plastics migrate toxins into whatever they contact. Apparently, research has shown that plastic should never contact food and that we should never microwave food wrapped in plastic because heat increases the migration of free radicals into the food that could damage cells in one’s body. This can’t be good! Plastics are in almost everything we touch. It is a huge industry that seems now to be profiting at the expense of our health and the environment. What is your take on all this? What are our alternatives?
Signed,
Plasticized in Portland
Dear Plasticized,
What an important question! So important in fact that it’s going to take a couple of columns to give you a thorough answer. Today I will talk about which plastics are bad for you and why. Next month I’ll talk about some ways to clean up yourself and your family. So here goes:
Mr. McGuire said it best in “The Graduate” — “Just one word … plastics.” They are everywhere! Since the é0s they have been introduced into all aspects of our daily lives, from the cars we drive to the toys our children play with to the keyboard I’m typing on to how our food and water and medicines are shipped and stored and served. Some of these plastics are fairly inert and harmless while others may have far-reaching, devastating health consequences. The worst offenders act as hormone disruptors, meaning the plastic molecules actually mimic our own chemical messengers in our bodies. This is bad.
A study in the January 2006 issue of “Environmental Health Perspectives” showed that low-level exposure to a plastic called bisphenol-A (also known as BPA) resulted in insulin resistance in mice. This is a great example of hormone disruption. Insulin opens channels in our cell walls and lets sugar inside. When we become resistant to insulin we can develop metabolic syndrome, a combination of type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and fat around the organs. The BPA levels used in the study correspond to what we are exposed to every day. In fact, they are 5,000 times lower than the minimal safe level of human exposure set by the EPA.
Other studies have shown that certain plastics disrupt our sex hormones. A researcher at Tufts was conducting a study on breast cancer cells. She ran out of glass petri dishes to grow her cell cultures and used plastic dishes instead. When she returned to the lab, the growth of the cancer cells had gone haywire! The only change was exposure to the plastic dishes. Later research showed that cancer cells love the estrogen-like effects of plastic — it’s like pouring gasoline on a fire. Hormonally-sensitive cancers like breast, ovarian and uterine cancer have been on the rise. This may also be one of the reasons that average male sperm counts have dropped 50% since the é0s.
Plastics are unavoidable, it seems. Even polar bears show plastic metabolites in their urine. I feel the research is solid enough to warrant avoiding excessive plastic exposure at all times. This is especially true for vulnerable populations like women expecting to become pregnant or already pregnant, children, and those with a family history of metabolic syndrome or hormonally-sensitive cancers. But don’t dispair! Next month I will talk about ways to minimize plastic exposure as well as how to get rid of plastic from your body.
Sean McCloy, MD, MPH, MA is the medical director at Maine Integrative Wellness in Portland. He is dual board-certified in family medicine and holistic medicine. He specializes in integrative family medicine and can be seen walking around the Old Port with his therapy dog, Hershey. Send questions for Sean to editor@themaineswitch.com.