This is not new(s), at least not in the sense that most people haven't heard the stories about microwaving plastics and/or use of plastics with chemicals that leech into food for a long while. I think the first time I heard this was back in the mid-90s with a professor from Hawaii saying microwaving plastics released carcinogens into food. He was roundly poo-pooed and castigated in the press by the petro-chemical industry, of course.
Here are just a few old articles......
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Heat's on plastic containers
Despite widespread rumors to the contrary, food containers do not release dioxin. They can't -- they don't have any.
Los Angeles Times
Published: June 27, 2005
By Judy Foreman
Even amid the growing barrage of presumably well-intentioned health warnings now flying around cyberspace, this one is a doozy.
It warns that microwaving food in plastic containers releases dioxin, a carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent. The e-mail notes that the warning about dioxin had been sent out in a newsletter from Johns Hopkins, the esteemed medical institution in Baltimore, and that similar information is "being circulated" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The e-mail adds that freezing water in plastic bottles also releases dioxin.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. A Johns Hopkins spokesman called the e-mail a "hoax," adding, "It was never in our newsletter." A Walter Reed spokeswoman had never heard of it.
http://www.plasticsinfo.org/s_plasticsinfo/sec_level4_alt.asp?CID=551&DID=3406Microwaving food in plastic: Dangerous or not?
If you use e-mail, chances are you’ve received an urgent “PLEASE READ THIS!” message about the dangers of microwaving food in plastic containers or plastic wrap. The message warns that chemicals can leach out of the plastic and into the food, causing cancer, reproductive problems, and other ills. Is there any truth to this, or is it just another Internet-fueled “urban legend”? As is often the case with alarmist e-mails, this one contains a small kernel of truth — and a lot of misinformation.
Migrating chemicals
When food is wrapped in plastic or placed in a plastic container and microwaved, substances used in manufacturing the plastic (plasticizers) may leak into the food. In particular, fatty foods such as meats and cheeses cause a chemical called diethylhexyl adipate to leach out of the plastic. This certainly sounds scary, so it’s little wonder that a warning is making its way across the Web.
But here’s what the e-mails don’t mention. The FDA, recognizing the potential for small amounts of plasticizers to migrate, closely regulates plastic containers and materials that come into contact with food. Before approving a container, the FDA conducts tests to make sure that it doesn’t leak unsafe amounts of any substance into food.
The FDA tests measure the migration of chemicals at temperatures that the container or wrap is likely to encounter during ordinary use. For microwave approval, the agency estimates the ratio of plastic surface area to food, how long the container is likely to be in the microwave, how often a person is likely to eat from the container, and how hot the food can be expected to get during microwaving. The scientists then measure the chemicals that leach out and the extent to which they migrate to different kinds of foods. The maximum allowable amount is 100–1,000 times less per pound of body weight than the amount shown to harm laboratory animals over a lifetime of use. Only containers that pass this test can display a microwave-safe icon, the words “microwave safe,” or words to the effect that they’re approved for use in microwave ovens.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0706a.shtmlPlastic Paradox
by author Joe Skelton
During a recent discussion with my stepdaughter Stephanie, she related that at a gathering of mothers and their toddlers, the topic of microwaving plastic baby bottles was broached.
“One group said it was a myth that microwaving plastic baby bottles was harmful to babies,” said Stephanie, “while the other claimed there were numerous studies that indicate there are legitimate concerns because some types of plastics, when they are subjected to high temperatures, leach into foods and liquids. They were arguing about something called BPA, and I’m not sure which side has its facts straight,” she added.
The Warnings
I told her that the debate concerning bisphenol A (BPA) has been raging for years. BPA is used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Polycarbonate plastics are found in many consumer products including food containers and baby bottles. A concern of many researchers is that BPA acts as a hormone disruptor that can mimic natural hormones even when people are exposed to extremely low dosages. BPA is believed to emulate estradiol, a hormone essential for human development and health.
Frederick vom Saal, Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, reported in a 1998 interview, “The amount of estradiol you’re exposed to throughout your life is also the best predictor of breast cancer. This chemical mimics that hormone. The body can’t tell the difference between BPA and estradiol. In other words, it sees this chemical and it thinks it’s getting exposed to its natural hormone.”
Source: alive #280, February 2006
http://www.alive.com/4295a12a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=182Food Facts - May, 2003 Newsletter
http://foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/food_facts_archive/foodfacts_2003/foodfacts_may_2003.htmlChemical in Plastics Is Tied to Prostate Cancer
Bisphenol A, found in baby bottles and microwave cookware, permanently altered genes in newborn lab rats, a study finds.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
June 1, 2006
Linking prostate cancer to a widespread industrial compound, scientists have found that exposure to a chemical that leaks from plastic causes genetic changes in animals' developing prostate glands that are precursors of the most common form of cancer in males.
The chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, is used in the manufacture of hard, polycarbonate plastic for baby bottles, microwave cookware and other consumer goods, and it has been detected in nearly every human body tested.
And then there's the PVC problem:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/html/content/pvc1.html
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