For our modern society, plastic is one of the most useful and versatile inventions. Every day, virtually everything we touch, eat, or drink involves some form of plastic. We buy our food in plastic bags and containers, we buy drinks and water in plastic jugs and bottles. Many of us use plastic plates and cups at home and store leftovers in plastic containers. We wrap things in plastic wrap. We use plastic bags for a variety of things. Plastic protects our phones, our books and important papers. Plastic lines the inside of canned foods for protection. Plastic has many useful applications not only for our homes but also for major industries. Medicine, computer science, chemistry, cooking, dentistry, agriculture, the list goes on and on. Plastic has revolutionized our society.
Too much of a good thing is actually affecting our health. Have you ever tried to go a day without coming into contact with plastic? It’s almost impossible. Plastic is a polymer, which means a bunch of the same molecules loosely bound together with weak chemical bonds. This allows some of the molecules to break apart. All of our exposure to so much plastic is beginning to interfere with our hormones. Many types of plastics have an excessive “xeno-estrogenic” effect. Once we put too much into our bodies, we can start to see hormonal imbalances in women and men that look like excess estrogen. This can have many negative effects, especially on fertility, menstruation, growth and development, and general health and well-being. Xenoestrogens disrupt our normal endocrine system and in women have been linked to breast cancer, endometriosis, and may even disrupt neural signaling during fetal growth. For men, xenoestrogens have an effect on testicular function, sperm concentration, growth, and motility. Environmentalists are even seeing a trend in fish because so much xenoestrogens from our wastewater makes its way into streams. Male fish show partial, competitive sexual reversion to females. Some parts of the oceans are so full of plastic debris that it’s driving animals from their homes. Marine animals and fish ingest plastic or get it stuck in and around their bodies, causing severe deformities, inability to feed, and death.
The most important exposure we have control over is the use of plastic for food and water. Heating food in plastic containers is one of the worst ways to contaminate our food and our bodies. Heating food in plastic allows the molecules to break off more easily. Packages of frozen vegetables that advertise microwaving the packages to “steam” in the bag, frozen meals in plastic trays and bags, and putting hot cooked foods in a plastic container to store or cover with plastic wrap are ways that plastics can adversely affect our health. Drinking water in plastic bottles also allows harmful chemicals like bisphenol-a, polychlorinated biphenyl, and phthalates to leach into your water in the same way that they can leach into food.
What can you do about it? Try to use as little plastic as possible in your daily life. Use Pyrex or other types of non-plastic containers to store and heat food. Drink water in glass or stainless steel bottles. Use your own cloth grocery bags and produce bags instead of using plastic ones. Limit or avoid frozen dinners and processed foods. Do not microwave or heat anything made of plastic. Try to eat as little canned food as possible. By making these simple and easy changes, you will not only help your own health, but the health of the planet as well.
