A Clear and Plastic Danger

The following article appeared in Natural Solutions magazine and I thought it was not only very scary, but extremely important. PLEASE read it- I believe everyone needs to. Can you eliminate plastics from your life completely? Probably not- but after reading this I did my best to try.

The full article:

http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/center.article/articleID/14985/subTopicID/173/AClearPlasticDanger

Important excerpts:

"For a microcosm of what’s been happening with endocrine disrupters in the US, consider the case of the widely used chemical bisphenol-A (BPA). Industry loves BPA because it makes polycarbonate plastic clear and nearly unbreakable. An extensive body of literature supports the view that this chemical, originally developed as a synthetic estrogen, can cause hormonal chaos. “We’re talking about hundreds of studies with large sample sizes by the world’s premier scientists in endocrinology, neurobiology, and developmental biology—published in the major journals in the world,” says University of Missouri-Columbia neurobiologist Fred vom Saal, a pioneer in BPA research. But the FDA has so far declared BPA safe, citing instead two tiny studies. Those studies, unlike the independent research that counters them, were funded by the chemical industry."

"The government has also failed to act against phthalates—chemicals used mainly to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic soft and pliable—despite disturbing research that points to estrogen-related damage in both animals and people, including shrunken penises and impaired testes. As usual with profitable substances, the government claims that regulation is unwarranted until someone proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that phthalates cause harm. Relying on the same research available to US agencies, however, the European Union (EU) began enforcing a ban against phthalates in toys in 1999."

“When [fetuses and children] are exposed during critical windows of development, the effects are permanent,” says vom Saal. Women’s BPA and phthalate levels worry scientists as well, because these chemicals pass through the placenta to the fetus during pregnancy or through breast milk. Scientists worry less about men because, as vom Saal notes, “In adults, it’s like taking a birth-control pill.” In other words, when a woman takes the Pill, her hormonal activity is affected while the chemicals are in her body. Once she goes off the Pill, her hormonal activity eventually returns to normal. So it is with endocrine disrupters: If adults end their exposure to the chemicals, they also end the effects."

"The theory about how damage from endocrine disrupters transpires goes like this: As vom Saal points out, the cells in babies and children depend upon signals from hormones to determine how they should develop. The wrong signals produce the wrong result. Because both BPA and phthalates resemble estrogen, they can mimic or block estrogenic effects in the body. Females exposed to messed-up estrogen-like signals early in life may develop breast and other reproductive system cancers later, research suggests. If males are exposed at crucial developmental stages, they may develop female characteristics and/or have poorly developed male ones. Other possible consequences include testicular cancer, reduced sperm counts, smaller penises, and undescended testes."

"Vom Saal has worked exclusively on rodent studies, but he’s used breeds that respond to estrogen in a similar manner as humans. In 2006, an expert panel including vom Saal suggested that BPA may factor in such known human trends as increases in abnormal penises and urethras in males, early female puberty, decreased sperm counts, prostate and breast cancers, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, obesity, and type-2 diabetes. BPA led to all those conditions in rats."

"In a sense, one large-scale human study of estrogen mimics has already been conducted—and the results weren’t pretty. From about 1941–71, millions of US women were given a synthetic estrogen called DES to prevent miscarriages. Their babies seemed healthy at birth, but vom Saal notes, “as teenagers, the girls started developing uterine cancers that had never been seen in women under 60.” These same girls, now grown women, have hyper rates of breast cancer, too. “They looked OK from the outside,” vom Saal says. “But their internal systems were completely deranged.”

"How did the endocrine disrupter situation get so out of hand? The US was the first nation to aggressively regulate chemical pollution in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. But as other industrialized nations began following our lead, an antiregulatory backlash—fueled by corporate lobbyists and their political allies—took over at home. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hasn’t banned a single chemical in 17 years and has only banned five—including dioxins and PCBs—in its entire history. In fact, it has allowed 95 percent of chemicals to be used with no testing whatsoever. Note, too, that one of the most dangerous sources of phthalates—cosmetics—is barely regulated at all, thanks again to the industry’s lobbying efforts."