3,000+ Chemicals from Food Packaging Have Infiltrated Our Bodies, + Metals, PFAS, Phthalates🍿

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'More than 3,000 chemicals from food packaging have infiltrated our bodies,' Yahoo News, Washington Post, Sep 16, 2024. Edit.

🍋 Photo: An individually plastic wrapped lemon. Plastic packaging around food can introduce harmful chemicals into the body.
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Shrink-wrap sealed around a piece of raw meat. Takeout containers filled with restaurant leftovers. Plastic bottles filled with soft drinks.

These are just a few types of food packaging that surround humans every day. And a new study released Monday shows the chemical toll of all that wrapping - and how it might affect the human body. Researchers from Switzerland and other countries discovered that of the roughly 14,000 known chemicals in food packaging, 3,601 - or about 25 % - have been found in the human body, whether in samples of blood, hair or breast milk.

Those chemicals include metals, volatile organic compounds, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, phthalates and many others known to disrupt the endocrine system and cause cancer or other diseases. The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, didn’t directly examine the link to these illnesses. But the researchers say their inventory of chemicals can help future research into health risks. “There are known hazardous chemicals that are known to be linked with adverse human health outcomes,” said Jane Muncke of the Food Packaging Forum. “And these chemicals leach out of packaging.”

Scientists have known for many years that chemicals can spill out of food packaging into the food itself.

How many chemicals - and in what quantities - depends on the type of packaging and the type of food. High temperatures can cause chemicals to leach more quickly into food, which is why scientists recommend avoiding microwaving food in takeout containers. Foods that are high in fat or high in acidity also tend to absorb more chemicals from their packaging, as do foods that are tucked into smaller containers - the more cramped the container, the more contact it has with the food inside.

Most of the chemicals leaching from food packaging come from plastics, but not all of them.

“Probably the worst one is recycled paper and cardboard,” Muncke said. “And I know that’s a hard one to stomach.” Recycling paper, cardboard or plastic for food packaging leads to nonfood grade inks mixed in next to food, she explained, adding to the chemical risks. We don’t think about how the (mostly) plastic packaging adds chemicals to our food, but it’s an important source of human exposures,” R. Thomas Zoeller at the Univ. of Mass. at Amherst said. “This is an early indication that harmful chemicals - largely unregulated - are making it into the human population.”...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-3-000-chemicals-food-000916225.html

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1. What Are Phthalates? Consumer Guides: EWG, Environmental Working Group

*What Are Phthalates?* EWG, 7.23. Phthalates are used in many consumer and personal products: vinyl, paint, food packaging, cosmetics, fragrance, air fresheners, kitchen items, toys, lawn furniture, garden hoses and more.
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Phthalates are a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These chemicals are associated with health harms, including increased risk of cancer, asthma and allergies, and learning attention and behavioral difficulties in children. They are found in many consumer products, including paint, plastics, fragrance and personal care products, such as nail polish.

Introduction. As you start your day, phthalates have joined your morning rituals. Your first dose happens the moment you pull back your plastic shower curtain and then lather up with shampoo and soap. You’re exposed to these endocrine disruptors again in the fresh scents of your deodorant and body lotion. These chemicals lurk in seemingly harmless items like your plastic key ring and air freshener.

Phthalates have an uncanny ability to show up in unexpected places, making their presence felt in plastic, vinyl, personal care products, children's toys, and often hide in “fragrance.” They’ve been around since the 1930s and are now widely used. More than three in four adults have detectable levels of these chemicals in their urine. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors, a class of potent chemicals that interfere with our hormone systems.

Effect on our health: The endocrine system is a network of hormones, hormone-producing glands and hormone receptors.

It’s critical to many of the core functions of the body, including growth and development, metabolism, reproduction, sleep, stress and the immune response. Phthalates disrupt the hormone system by increasing the production of some hormones, decreasing the production of others and interfering with hormone signaling which can cause health problems. Some of the health harms associated with phthalates are changes to fertility, early puberty and risk of low birth weight, obesity, diabetes, impacts to the immune system, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, some cancers and neurological and behavioral problems... Read More,
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/07/what-are-phthalates

- CONSUMER GUIDES - EWG
Want to know what's in your sunscreen? Curious about the toxic chemicals in your tap water? EWG’s consumer guides help you find the answers you need. FEATURED...
https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides