Most plastic products, regardless of the type of product, the type of resin used to make the product, or the retail store from which the product is purchased, release estrogenic chemicals, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Chemicals that mimic the actions of naturally occurring estrogens are defined as having estrogenic activity (EA), which is the most common form of endocrine disruptor activity. Such chemicals can produce many health-related problems in mammals, including early puberty in females, reduced sperm counts, altered functions of reproductive organs, obesity, altered sex-specific behaviors, and increased rates of some breast, ovarian, testicular, and prostate cancers.
Fetal, newborn, and juvenile mammals are especially sensitive to the effects of chemicals having estrogenic activity.
In the study, over 500 commercially available plastic products used as food and drink containers were tested. Testing included samples made of various plastic types as well as samples with different uses (flexible packaging, food wrap, rigid packaging, baby bottle component, deli containers, and plastic bags).
In addition to this, comparisons were made between products based on where they were purchased (products were purchased from large retailers including Target, Wal-Mart, and Whole Foods). Additional data was recorded related to whether or not the plastic items had contents or did not have contents when purchased.
The study included testing the products unstressed using saline, ethanol, and a combination of the two for extraction. 71% of the unstressed plastic items released chemicals with reliably-detectable estrogenic activity (EA) independent of resin type, product type, or retailer. Also, there was no significant difference in the percentage of items with detectable EA between those that had contents and those with no contents.
When the products were put under typical stress that many everyday food containers endure such as microwaving, heat and moisture stress (as in a dishwasher), and UV light (such as occurs with fluorescent lights or sunlight), the results were even more disturbing: Over 95% of the stressed plastic products leached chemicals that act as estrogen.
Even products advertised as being free of bisphenol-A (BPA) released chemicals having estrogenic activity. In some cases, BPA-free products released even more such chemicals than BPA-containing products.
Because the chemical composition of plastic products is considered to be proprietary, companies do not typically release this information. Therefore, the exact chemical compositions of the products used in the study were unknown.
The good news, according to the study’s authors, is that there are available materials that could theoretically be used to make plastics that don’t leach estrogen-like chemicals, and these materials are no more expensive than the ones that do release chemicals with EA. The authors state, “Since we can identify existing, relatively-inexpensive monomers and additives that do not exhibit estrogenic activity, even when stressed, we believe that plastics having comparable physical properties but that do not release chemicals having detectable EA could be produced at minimal additional cost.”
Until such time as more studies are done and guaranteed EA-free plastics are made, the public cannot assume that the commercially available plastic products will not leach estrogenic chemicals, even if the products are advertised as BPA-free. For now, most likely any plastic products the consumer buys will release estrogenic materials.
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