Plastics and Cancer - Myth
Surely, if you have not received information saying that you
shouldn’t use plastic bottles, microwave plastics (that are suitable) and/or
been told not to drink out of a slightly warmed up plastic bottle; you have
been living on an isolated island and I am exceptionally jealous. This story
appeared a good few years ago warning you not to drink from bottles that have
been left in your car as they warm up and chemikillz leach out into the water
and cause cancer. This appeared to die down, however, it was pretty much still
being propagated. Freezing and/or reusing of plastic bottles
According to an article written last year by Richa Ahuja for
lifeunfold plastic can cause cancer. That is the genuine title of the article.
Pretty much blunt and to the point. In the article she states that she
clearly has no formal chemistry education:
"All plastic products are leaching chemicals into their food, especially
if they’re using grade 3 or grade 7 plastics, or any hard plastic. These
plastics contain dangerous chemicals which are very risky for pregnant women,
infants and children…When hot food is packed in plastic, there is exchange of
chemicals between plastic and food, which is maximized by high temperature, and
the nature of the food. The more you heat and cool, more chemicals start to
break down and leach into food. As a result, serious health issues can arise."
She isn’t alone in this ‘thinking’. There are tonnes of
articles, blog posts and videos out there about how people don’t understand
science plastics. Many claim that heating or cooling of plastic causes a
release of ‘dioxin’. Dioxins are toxic organic pollutants known as POPs
(Persistent Organic Pollutants), are they dangerous? Very much so! Are they in
plastics? No, they’re not. This appears to be nothing more than an urban
legend. I remember a few years ago reading one of those stupid facebook ‘info
graphs’ about this (shown below) and having a quick look and couldn’t find a
source to say that any of this is true. The same stands now, like five years
later.
Dioxins don’t really appear to be used at all in the manufacturing
process of anything. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR) say that it is a common by-product of pesticide manufacturing and waste
destruction. Only one form of dioxin is known to cause cancer in humans and is
called TCDD.
Un-shockingly, Natural News: Your one stop for pure
pseudoscientific bullshit and a cheap laugh, jumped on the story with their
fearmongering tactics and recommendation of coffee enemas to remove dioxins.
For those of you that believe that will work, a bullet lodged into the temporal
lobe at high speed will also have the same effect.
Origin
Where does this all come from, nobody seems to know. It appears
to have just started as an urban legend. I have read stories of chain e-mails apparently
being the first place to start circulating. Some of the e-mails apparently
state that a study out of John Hopkins University shows that these chemicals
cause cancer from leaching out of plastics; but John Hopkins university press release denies that they have conducted such a study. You genuinely cannot get
any clearer than stating:
The
Internet is flooded with messages warning against freezing water in
plastic bottles or cooking with plastics in the microwave oven. These messages,
frequently titled “Johns Hopkins Cancer News” or “Johns Hopkins Cancer Update,”
are falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins and we do not endorse their content.
Freezing
water does not cause the release of chemicals from plastic bottles.
In
general, it is best to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations when
using any plastic products. When cooking with plastics, only use those plastic
containers, wraps, bags and utensils for their intended purposes."
So, it wasn’t them, who was it? No one. That’s who. This is
genuinely a myth that has got ridiculously out of hand and propagated to a
point beyond belief. Bisphenol A is a chemical known as BPA which is used in to
make rigid plastics, for example plastic bottles such as those intended for
reuse (e.g.; sports bottles, baby bottles etc.) is probably a reason for this propagation.
Tests showed concerning results with cancer and reproduction in animals, making
BPA a possible carcinogen. This was removed from baby bottles in 2012, a move branded as ‘Purely Cosmetic’. Over here in the UK we have a legislation from
the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that regulates the materials that are used in
the processes and packaging of foods. Andrew Wadge is a chief scientist for the
FSA and revised the studies on BPA stating that a study in 2011:
“…Corroborates other independent studies and adds to the evidence that
BPA is rapidly absorbed, detoxified, and eliminated from humans – therefore is
not a health concern."
Daily F**king Mail
Last year the Daily Mail had its own fear campaign set up
with an article urging people not to reuse plastic bottles. In the article,
Anethea Gerrie asks for you to not use lunchboxes, don’t use plastic in the
dishwasher, don’t use cling film and use natural packaging. She doesn’t suggest
what natural packaging to use but keep just randomly labelling chemicals. She
calls for you to use cans for fizzy drinks as formaldehyde is added to bottles
and is it ‘potentially a carcinogen’ – oh contraire my uneducated friend, it is a carcinogen. Before you lose your
mind and go ‘THEN WHY IS IT ALLOWED’; Dose makes the poison, and it is really
unclear whether they are in there or not, all I can find is articles saying
that it is there, not actual evidence. ‘New
evidence’, ‘Evidence suggests’ and ‘a published study’ is written over and over– which ones? Just
saying these things is not enough to be classed as evidence. Does the Daily
Mail not a have a proof reader? Anyway, at the end of that post is a post on
how Yoga cured insomnia and plugs a particular spar and loads of plastic free
bottles. Funny that, didn’t see any sales reps on the published journals I
read, must be in the wrong area. Conclusion
The baseline here is; there is literally no evidence for
plastics causing cancer. This is simply not true. Not even slightly. Scientific
information does not come from e-mails that were spread around in 2005, it
comes from peer reviewed studies – none of which state that leaving a bottle in
the car and then drinking out of it will cause breast cancer. This myth has
been debunked time and time again, the next time you hear someone say it – just
pour carcinogenic water over them, safe in the knowledge they think they will
get cancer and you have done nothing wrong because that is ridiculous.
So, once again, I will leave you with the words I put in
almost of my posts; because it is written down, doesn’t make it true.
Research and critique
No comments:
Post a Comment