In people and animals POPs don’t get excreted, but instead “bioaccumulate.” Examples of persistent organic pollutants include the notorious PFAS, which are linked to cancer, immune disorders and developmental problems.īut just because those chemicals are in the plastic, doesn’t mean they are coming out of the plastic, does it? Don’t they stay put where they’re supposed to? Those chemicals can be heavy metals (lead, antimony, mercury- which we all know is very toxic stuff) and/or persistent organic pollutants (POPs), aka manmade “forever chemicals” which persist without breaking down, whether in the environment or in the human body. Plastic is made from two things: fossil fuels and toxic chemicals. The problem comes back to the fundamental nature of plastic itself. What- people are upset that this chemical is dangerous? Let’s tweak the chemistry and they’ll stop worrying! This has been called the “whack-a-mole” approach to hazardous chemicals in plastics. As it turns out, however, when it comes to adverse health effects, BPS is just as bad as BPA, or worse. When it was established that BPA was an endocrine disruptor, many companies replaced BPA with another chemical: BPS (bisphenol-S). The reason this is bad news is because endocrine disruptors interfere with the body’s hormones and can cause a whole host of adverse health effects, from an increased risk of cancer, to cardiovascular problems, infertility, and developmental issues. Because of that testing, we know that BPA (aka bisphenol-A) is an endocrine-disruptor. Most of us have heard that BPA is “bad.” But it is still legal to use BPA in plastic (except baby bottle and sippy cups) so how bad could it really be? And probably, most other additives are safe, right?īut what if I told you that it is so, so much worse than just one chemical? What if I told you that there are tens of thousands of proprietary, man-made chemicals out there being used in our plastics, and that virtually none of them have been tested for effects on human health?īPA is one of the ones that did get tested, and the results were not reassuring. We all know that there can be “bad” things in plastic.
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