In previous articles here, here and here, I wrote about the dangers of an environmental toxin called bisphenol-A (BPA). BPA is a chemical that is found in several plastics and plastic additives. It’s in the water bottles some folks carry to gyms, the canned tomatoes and coconut milk they cook with, and in the baby bottles moms use to feed their infants.
We’ve known for decades that BPA has estrogenic activity. In vivo animal studies and in vitro cell-culture research has linked low-level estrogenic activity associated with BPA exposure to all kinds of fun stuff, like diabetes, ADHD, heart disease, infertility and cancer.
There is now significant evidence suggesting that even low levels of BPA-exposure can cause harm, and this is particularly true in vulnerable populations like pregnant women, infants and the chronically ill. (1)
Because of this research, and the growing public awareness that BPA should be avoided, a new crop of “BPA-free” plastic food containers and baby bottles has been introduced. However, a recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in July has shown that even BPA-free plastics have chemicals with estrogenic activity (EA), and can cause serious health problems as a result. (2)
What is “estrogenic activity” (EA)?
Chemicals with estrogenic activity (EA) are those that mimic or antagonize the actions of naturally occurring estrogens. These chemicals are capable of binding with one or more of the nuclear estrogen receptors in the body.
The best way to think of chemicals with EA is as a counterfeit key fitting into a loose lock.
As I mentioned above, vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, developing fetuses, infants and children are especially sensitive to even very low doses of chemicals with EA. (4)
BPA-free is not EA-free
In the Environmental Health Perspectives study, Yaniger et al. set out to determine the estrogenic activity of commonly used plastic consumer products.
They bought more than 500 plastic products at places like Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, and other major retailers. They selected from all categories of plastic, including tupperware containers, bags and wraps.
Then they cut the containers into pieces, put them into liquids that contain similar chemicals found in food and drinks, and subjected them to stresses that mimic normal use, like UV light (sunlight), microwaving, or moist heat (like boiling or dishwashing).
Their results showed that over 90 percent of the products leached estrogenic chemicals before they were even stressed, and after being stressed essentially all of the products showed estrogenic activity.
According to Stuart Yaniger, one of the lead authors of the study:
Baby bottles, plastic bags, plastic wrap, clamshell food containers, stand-up pouches: Just about anything you can think of that’s made of plastic that food or beverages are wrapped up in, we found this activity. It was shocking to us.
What plastics do and don’t have EA? It’s impossible to tell.
The exact chemical composition of most plastic products is proprietary and thus not known, and a single plastic item containing many parts (e.g. a baby bottle) may consist of >100 chemicals, all of which can leach from the product.
In light of the researchers’ finding that nearly all of the 500 plastic products they tested leached when stressed, and 90 percent of them leached even without stress, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that most plastic products you can buy in the store have chemicals with EA.
It’s important to reiterate that this is true even with BPA-free plastics. In fact, the Environmental Health Perspectives study found that some BPA-free products had even more EA than BPA-containing products!
Should you be concerned about chemicals with EA?
There are still a lot of unknowns in the discussion of the EA of various chemicals in plastic products, such as the number of chemicals having EA, their relative EA, their release rate under different conditions, and their half-lives in human beings of different ages.
However, there are 3 strong arguments for being “better safe than sorry” when it comes to plastics and EA (5):
- in vitro data overwhelmingly show that exposures to chemicals with EA (even in very low doses) change the structure and function of human cell types;
- many studies present clear cellular, molecular and systemic mechanisms by which chemicals having EA produce changes in cells, organs and behaviors; and,
- recent epidemiological studies strongly suggest that chemicals with EA produce measurable changes in the health of various human populations.
Perhaps the study authors summed it up best in their conclusion:
Many scientists believe that it is not appropriate to bet our health and that of future generations on an assumption that known cellular effects of chemicals having EA released from most plastics will have no severe adverse health effects.
I couldn’t agree more.
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What you can do to reduce your exposure to chemicals with EA
Here’s a list of things you can do to reduce your exposure – and especially your baby’s and children’s exposure – to chemicals with EA.
- Use glass containers and canning jars at home for food storage. Be aware that the lids of Mason and Kerr brand canning jars contain BPA and chemicals with EA. There are BPA-free lids, but they still may contain chemicals with EA, and I’ve been told they’re made with formaldehyde. Weck makes 100% glass jars that are a good alternative. Crate and Barrel sells them here.
- Use stainless steel containers in the freezer instead of freezer bags.
- Use a stainless steel water bottle (like the Klean Kanteen) instead of plastic bottles.
- Don’t drink bottled water from plastic bottles, especially when they’ve been exposed to sunlight.
- Parents: use glass baby bottles instead of plastic. Evenflo is a commonly available brand you can buy at Target, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, etc. and online at Amazon and other retailers.
Special note for Sous Vide users: After reading this study, I’m feeling very uncomfortable about the idea of eating anything that comes out of a plastic bag that has been sitting in a hot water bath for several hours. This is a crushing blow, as I love cooking with the Sous Vide. But in light of the evidence that even BPA-free plastics bags leach chemicals with EA even without added stress like a hot water bath, I think erring on the side of caution is probably wise.
UPDATE 10-28-11: make sure to read the comments section for some good recommendations.
UPDATE 11-7-11: check out this article on Nom Nom Paleo, one of my favorite Paleo food blogs. She did some homework and found some information claiming that re-usable silicon bags don’t have EA chemicals. However, Stuart Yaniger, one of the authors of the paper I referenced in this article, commented on her post (and below) that most silicon products do, in fact, leach EA chemicals. I’m also wary of the claim that FoodSaver bags don’t have any EA without 3rd party, independent testing. As Yaniger’s article demonstrated, we should assume all plastics have EA until proven otherwise.
Resources for those who want to avoid plastic entirely
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Hoping to get a response from Chris on this. I had this nasty incident with this China made plastic coffee maker. It’s Kitchen Elite I believe. And that made me sick for like 3 days ,weird feel in stomach and all which did eventually dissipate.
Any idea on what the most likely nasty chemicals in that and how serious the damage. I been doing a lot of lemon detoxing for some time after that incident.
Nowadays, my diet is organic(to avoid pesticides) and non-GMOs and plenty of antioxidant from vegetables and the like.
But I did developed indigestion that always happens after meals and I found curry soup to consistently help in relieving. A family doctor I saw tried to prescribe antacid and PPI but I refused after consulting different sources on GERD including your’s . Curry seemed a big help but I have dependency with that. What’s a good doctor to see to cure this without need for dependency no more. Is functional medicine or GI doctor the way to go. I don’t want to run into another doctor giving bad advice like antacid and PPI again. Even the GI doctor I was referred to for endoscopy recommended I go on meds the fd prescribed, so I find this to be coupling in bad advices. The endoscopy diagnosed GERD of mild inflammation.
How much do you think that China coffee maker incident contributed to this GERD. I was perfectly healthy before that period. Now I also have food allergy as well to some but not too many foods.
Appreciate some helpful advice!
look up dr walter crinnion
I would like to know more about silicone. Even glass or stainless steel baby bottles use silicone nipples. I was hoping to
use silicone lids too. One person said that the dyes were the only problem with silicone, although I read that food grade silicone (FDA & EU) can’t contain dyes w/heavy metals. Is silicone just as bad as plastic?
Hi Chris,
So this only exposes the tip of the ice burg. Plastics are like a plague on our health as you already know.
With the over 40 male crowd not only is there an increase in male infertility but (and fairly recently discovered and now just starting to get attention) there is a huge increase with the male population around the world having problems with increasing levels of S.H.B.G (sex hormone binding globulin)
This is is what regulates our testosterone in our bodies.
Plastics wreak havoc on our hormonal health and to add insult to injury many men that are having symptoms of low testosterone that are tested for low testosterone still show normal levels and are then misdiagnosed as having depression or some other psychological problem and treated for something that they don’t have.
This is not being studied that much and most general practitioners know nothing about it but it is going to be epidemic in the near future.
Increased S.H.B.G lowers free testosterone by binding to serum testosterone and rendering it useless to the body. This allows the body to be estrogen dominant so that combined with the estrogen’s we get from plastics is devastating to men. This opens up a whole other world of health risks as a man ages. Hormone replacement will do nothing for it because the body just keeps binding the testosterone as it is added. S.H.B.G. is the bodies own way of regulating our hormones but with all the environmental intrusions on our bodies our natural systems no longer know what to do. Food for thought, we ain’t seen anything yet!!
Hi Chris,
Any new recommendations regarding Sous-Vide ? Do you still use it ? Do you use the silicone bags ?
Thank you,
Michael
But what I want to know is how quickly food and drink is contaminated?? I understand chemicals leaching into a water bottle that had been left out in the sun, but what about food stored in a plastic container for a few hours or over night? Is the risk much less?
Hi Chris,
I too use a silicone menstrual cup, but after reading this article (and comments) I may have to rethink this.
My question is – Do you know if natural latex is safe? There is an Australian brand that make menstrual cups from this – would this be a safer alternative or should I ditch them altogether?
Thanks!
I’ve been wondering about the same thing recently. I’ve been using a diva cup for over a year and it occurred to me recently that it might be an issue. It’s in intimate contact for approx 25% of my life and you have to boil it every month to sterilize it so it’s exposed to high heat regularly.
Reading this as a father of 2 young girls (4mo and 4yrs) gives me a horrible gut-clenching stress 🙁
I’m huge on convenience around my cooking and storing of food. I cook big batches and often store them in old ice cream containers or take-away containers (often still fairly warm but never hotter than I’d eat). We never put plastic in the microwave and have BPA-free infant bottles but still we use a lot of plastic and now I’m feeling quite worried that there’s very little solution for us without significant changes.
I did find that Eastman, the company behind a lot of “BPA-free” resins used in products are engaged in a legal battle with the company behind PlastiPure and CertiChem that tests for EA. On the surface it smacks of goliath trying to squash inconvenient truths, but it would be good to have other studies to back this one up.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/07/30/157592882/legal-battle-heats-up-over-whose-plastic-consumers-should-trust
Just do the best you can.
We store as much as possible in our fridge and pantry in glass canning jars–they come in many sizes. I have a hand-held vacuum sealer with jar attachments, so I can seal the jars pretty well. I carry my lunch to work in canning jars–I’ve knitted little sleeves so they don’t knock together in my lunch bag. Even a leftover lemon half goes in a little jar instead of a baggie in the fridge.
I also use metal “tiffins”. These are divided metal boxes or stacking metal boxes (usually stainless steel) for carrying food outside the home, but they are not good for liquids (hence the jars). They would be good for small servings of the homemade granola bars, but they can’t be vacuum sealed. (Hint: Cost Plus has tiffins for good prices).
For larger amounts, I use the old fashioned cookie tins (stock up at Christmas time–I buy the tins and toss the cookies when they are cheap–we have quite a collection now. I also have a set of graduated glass bowls with lids (yes, plastic) for storing food in the fridge. I’ve also been buying some of those small round and square pyrex containers with the plastic lids for fridge storage–as long as the food isn’t in contact with the lids, I’m OK with it. Same with the jars, there’s BPA in the lids.
You can’t help that some things come in plastic or BPA lined cans, except to limit the processed foods that you buy. I make what I can myself (yogurt, kefir, pickles, sauerkraut, mayo, sometimes even butter), but I get it that some things you just have to buy. I often transfer things to glass containers as soon as they are opened. I even have some old fashioned milk bottles for the milk–much nicer to pour from than a plastic container.
I don’t think the mainstream will ever go back to glass containers for dairy, nut butters, etc. It’s just too expensive to transport all that glass, and expensive to recycle it, too. It has to be done on an individual basis in your own home.
Thanks very much for the reply! I appreciate your time and the good suggestions. I have been changing over to the Pyrex glass containers for leftovers, but when you look in the fridge at all of the other stuff it makes you think it is a waist of time. Some of the stores in my area have glass bottles of milk with recycling and trade in programs, but with 2 teenage boys in the house it doesn’t seem feasible. We can consume 2 gallons of milk in a day. I will try to switch other things over though, so that was a good idea. I need to look into orange juice containers….I know I should stay away from plastic, but what about the cartons–aren’t they lined with something? It seems endless. We really need the government to step in here and get rid of these chemicals. Thanks again!
I just ran into this article while trying to figure out how to store homemade gluten free granola bars for my son to take to the Boy Scout National Jamboree–him not being able to eat wheat is going to be a huge challenge there.
First does anybody know a product that you can vacuum pack those in something that isn’t hazardous to his health? Next what about most of the stuff in our refrigerator–everything comes in plastic. Will getting ride of zip locks for leftover half-onions and not storing our frozen meat in baggies really made a difference when the milk, juice, ketchup, mayo, mustard, butter, sour cream…..well everything in the fridge, comes in plastic? Uggg the whole thing is very frustrating. We need the government to outlaw containers with these chemicals, because there are so few ways for us as consumers to speak with our wallets and purchase alternatives. We all don’t live within a hour of stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
Re: copolyesters, if memory serves, the one used for blenders/mixers and more permanent applications were typically Eastman Tritan. I can’t comment on their potential for EA because Eastman is apparently suing anyone who dares show test results different than the ones they bought and paid for. So given that I’m a poor guy who can’t afford to hire an expensive defense attorney, I’ll say “no comment” let you draw your own conclusions. Other copolyesters like Eastar are generally used in disposable applications because of their limited temperature range.
Re: temperature, leaching does slow at lower temperatures, but it’s not insignificant. Many plastics tested positive after extraction at body temp (37 C) and no prior stressing.
This is a relatively old post, but I’m wondering if someone can answer if the items must be heated in order to leech these chemicals. For example, storing cold vegetables (uncooked) in plastic bags / tupperware. Or nuts / seeds in similar (supposed BPA-Free) type containers?
Also Dehydrators are exclusively plastic (from what i’ve seen) but the temps are relatively low, would that be a problem?
Would be interesting to see if this includes wine casks as well as i’m pretty sure those pretty silver bags are some kind of plastic and wine would be reasonably reactive I would have thought :-[
Here’s hoping someone has an answer!
Cheers
Excellent. More things to worry about. More things I can do very little about.
I avoid heating plastic and that is simply the best I can do for now.
Chris, the Yaniger study says that EA are leached “once items are exposed to boiling water, sunlight and/or microwaving.” For sous vide, does that make you any more comfortable in using PE bags in water well below the boiling point? Thanks, JS
Many of us use VitaMix blenders in the kitchen, I believe previously these containers were made of polycarbonate, and the new ones are currently made out copolyester. What do you think about this? Are there any good blender containers made out of glass?
I’m also concerned about mine. My pitcher has already begun to develop a large amount of deep scratches, in less than a year of use (I use it twice a day). I’m of the mind to dig out my old Kitchen Aid with a glass pitcher to do light duty or hot liquid blending, at least as a stop-gap solution. I’m going to write them a letter pointing to this study; if enough of their customers do this maybe they’ll take notice.
Hmmm this sucks… I buy my meat from a farm near me and it all comes frozen in vacuum packed plastic…
Absolutley nothing i can do about this.
So it got me thinking… Surely chemicles leach from almost anything.. Ok maybe not EA but other chemicals that you really dont want in your body…
And then theres a question of how much you absorb through your skin… And think of the amount of chemical based stuff we come in contact with..
Im just gonna try limit the amount of plastic exposier but plastic wraps all food products so its just not doable to stop this…
Omg its just like gluten!!, its everywhere!!,
Is there any supplement or food that can help combat against these chemicals or are we all just fighting a losing battle….. Maybe…
I’ve been congratulating myself for quitting processed foods and making all my own food myself. However, my method involves freezing lunch portions in convenient, easily portable, 2 cup plastic Ziploc-type screw top jars. *sigh*
I checked out the alternative containers mentioned in this post and comments, and WOW they are expensive – especially given how many I’d need. I think I’m going to try standard canning jars despite the plastic lid linings. I figure my exposure to leached estrogenic chemicals is reduced in proportion to the surface area of the food in contact with plastic. I estimate I can reduce the plastic surface area by over 80% if just the lid is plastic compared to the entire jar interior. PLUS, when stored upright and frozen, the food doesn’t actually touch the lid lining of a canning jar (much, if at all).
Hopefully this new strategy is enough to provide meaningful reductions in exposure to BPA and related chemicals along with meaningful reductions in anxiety over it. If there’s some flaw in this logic, I’m eager to hear about it!
If you need glassware, visit the Salvation Army or Goodwill. The shelves are loaded with it.
What is known about possible EA or other issues of compostable plastics? We are now able to get water bottles and other items made of compostable “plastic”…. Thanks.
I haven’t seen any research on those yet.
I was curious what about supplement containers? I dont think u would have much choice, would you think the BPA or EA could contaminate supplements?
I heard polyester has estrogenic activity. Is this true?
After my last post about reusable (expensive) all cloth lunch/snack bags, I then found a much cheaper alternative, but now find myself wondering about how to validate the standards of the materials, e.g. organic cotton grown in India. Does anyone know of testers of these products?
http://www.reuseit.com/store/organic-cotton-muslin-produce-snack-bags-p-689.html