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Which Plastics are Harmful?

How to choose the “numbers” of plastic which are probably safest.

December 22, 2010 |
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Supplementary Info

Which Plastics are Harmful?, 4.7 out of 5 based on 3 ratings

Sources Cited

I. A. Lang, T. S. Galloway, A. Scarlett, W. E. Henley, M. Depledge, R. B. Wallace, and D. Melzer. Association of urinary bisphenol a concentration with medical disorders and laboratory abnormalities in adults. Jama, pages 300-311, 2008.

L. Grumetto, D. Montesano, S. Seccia, S. Albrizio, and F. Barbato. Determination of bisphenol a and bisphenol b residues in canned peeled tomatoes by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. J. Agric. Food. Chem., 56(22):10633-10637, 2008.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

The lining of food cans—like cans of beans—can contain a chemical called BPA, otherwise most commonly found in polycarbonate plastics. There is a battle raging in North America about the safety of BPA. Last year, Canada decided to start banning it as a toxic chemical, whereas the U.S. FDA said the stuff was completely fine. Who to believe? The science. Always.
Are the Canadians right? Or is this one thing the Bush administration’s science policy got right??
There’s about a dozen new studies I could put up, but this is the one that’s probably getting the most attention, from the journal of the AMA linking BPA levels with heart disease, diabetes, and liver inflammation.
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to stay away from the stuff. The general rule is to stay away from #’s 3, and hard, clear # 7’s. Numbers 2 and 5 are probably the safest, high density polyethylene and polypropylene, but you don’t want to microwave even “microwave-safe” plastic and I would encourage people to move to glass tupperware and glass or stainless steel water bottles.
BPA is used in the lining of food cans, but thankfully very little seems to leach into the food, even from acidic foods. There are BPA-free canned foods on the market now, like the one’s used by Eden foods, but the benefits of eating beans far, far outweigh any risks, if you don’t have that choice. Remember, bean consumption means reduced blood pressure, lower body weight, and a slimmer waist.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out theother videos on industrial toxins. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

For more context, check out my associated blog posts: Do Eden Beans Have Too Much Iodine?, Soymilk: shake it up!, and  Pollutants in Californian Breast Tissue

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on industrial toxins. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/keith-akers/ Keith Akers

    PUR says that their water filters are BPA free, but that their pitchers are made with #7 plastic (“an acrylic-based polymer”), #6 for their lids, and their filters from #5. All of this according to this web site:
    http://thisgreenblog.com/2009/10/are-brita-and-pur-water-pitchers-bpa.html

    But the video says #3 and #7 are the plastics to stay away from. So is PUR making this up, or is their #7 plastic O. K. in this case? (I notice that the label for #7 is “other” suggesting a catch-all category.) I don’t want to put BPA in my filtered water!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/sympathys/ sympathys

    Ok, I know that drinking alcohol is not the healthiest thing you can do for your body. However – if I do want to buy a bottle of rum or whatever for a party, I have noticed that many manufacturers are actually making hard liquor bottles out of plastic these days, probably because it is cheaper. Since alcohol is actually a solvent, are the bottles safe? Also, how long can you store them?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/aguccionesbcglobal-net/ aguccione@sbcglobal.net

    You are becoming more aware of better things to incorporate into your life, that’s very responsible of you. Warnings have been given about the damage UV light, heat, and freezing can do on the cellular make-up of plastic containers, which in turn can harm those who drink from these containers. Since you can never know how the plastic bottles have been treated before purchase, it’s best to go for the glass bottled variety. By the way, do drink responsibly for everyone’s sake! Here’s a great clip on eating vs. drinking Concord grapes to block DNA breaks!
    http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/repairing-dna-damage/

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/herehere/ HereHere

    I wish you had links to the studies. My dad thinks the whole BPA issue is a hoax (and human-caused climate change, too, if you can believe it). But, he claims to be a scientist, so putting a few good studies in his hands would help. Oh, he also doesn’t think there is an obesity epidemic in America.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      Not sure if there’s any talking sense to a climate skeptic, but there are more than 1,000 free scientific articles on bisphenol A accessible through PubMed Central (PMC). Unlike straight PubMed, PMC only indexes articles that are free and open to the public (2 million to date!).

      Probably the most interesting study published this year on the topic was “Most plastic products release estrogenic chemicals: a potential health problem that can be solved,” which found endocrine disrupting chemicals even in “BPA-free” plastics based on the in-vitro effects on estrogen receptor-positive human breast cancer cells. In some cases, BPA-free products released even more chemicals having estrogenic effects than BPA-containing plastic products. The good news is that a new study found that one could dramatically reduce one’s exposure of these both BPA (and “penis-shrinking” pthalates) by choosing more fresh, unpackaged foods.

  • Mollympatrick

    Hi Dr. Greger 
    I am wondering about the safety of plastic water bottles like that you would find at the grocery store. 

    Thanks 

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    Please also check out my associated blog post Do Eden Beans Have Too Much Iodine?

  • Edith Seaman

    What about “boil in the bag” products?  They have no number on them.  Can you boil in plastic safely? Or, microwave rice?  It comes in a plastic bag. Should it be removed from the bag and heated in a bowl? 

    • Joel

      NO, you can’t boil food in plastic bags “safely” – don’t buy food in plastic bags to begin with! Microwaving changes protein for the worse. Get serious and take control of your intake. Square the curve!

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