CHAPTER 7
Step 2: Purge the Plastic
Reducing the Plastic in Your Life
Plastic is everywhere. From cars to computers, bath toys to bottles, clothing to kitchen tools and storage containers, plastic is pervasive in our lives. Even though I implore people to avoid it, even I cannot live 100 percent plastic-free, a nearly impossible feat in the twenty-first century. In the last decade we produced more plastic than during the entire twentieth century. Fully half of the plastic is used just once and thrown away. Meanwhile, our bodies (as well as the environment) bear the brunt of effects from plastics, some of which are permanent.
Clearly, it is not feasible to live in a bubble, nor should we drive ourselves crazy trying to control everything by changing our lifestyle overnight. Balancing our legitimate concerns about chemicals in plastic that could be adversely affecting our health, including metabolism and weight control, with our dependence on the convenience of plastics in our daily lives (at least to some degree) is the subject of this chapter. Let’s get to the bad news first and then we will move on to the empowering information that will help you do something other than just worry.
THE BANE OF THE BOTTLE
Plastic water bottles are among the most problematic conveniences in our lives today for a variety of reasons. Their manufacture to meet our demand in the United States alone uses more than seventeen million barrels of oil annually, not including the energy for transportation. The average American uses more than 160 plastic water bottles a year but recycles only about 38 of them.194 As I was proofreading this chapter, a study was published revealing that an estimated thirty-eight million pieces of plastic trash were found on Henderson Island, an uninhabited, formerly pristine island in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.203 It is a great idea to keep plastic out of landfills, but it may use more energy to recycle plastic containers than to make new ones—it is better to avoid them altogether.
In comparison with what you might pay for drinking bottled water, the cost of having tap water delivered to our doors is very inexpensive. This is even true in Southern California, where the cost in San Diego is about $0.01 per gallon for most residential customers. The idea that bottled water is cleaner and comes from higher-quality sources (cue the image of snow-capped mountains and running streams) is not necessarily true. Many of the most popular bottled waters are purified municipal tap water; just check the bottle and see whether it contains “purified water” (a euphemism for tap water) or spring water bottled from a defined source. The primary purpose of such filtration is to remove the taste of chlorine and objectionable minerals such as iron, not to remove hazardous chemicals. Worse, no matter how pure the water started off, the longer it stays in plastic bottles, the higher the concentration of chemicals leached from the bottles it will contain, especially when it has been stored and/or transported warm. So what kind of obesogens hide in plastic?
EDCs IN PLASTICS
Among obesogenic chemicals in plastic that wreak havoc on the human body and concern me the most are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). As I detailed earlier, EDC exposure is especially worrisome when it occurs during fetal development or early life. These are “windows of susceptibility,” when children are physically developing and their small body masses cause them to be more susceptible to smaller amounts of harmful substances than are adults. EDCs can easily enter the body through inhaling household dust, eating pesticide-filled foods from plastic storage containers, and using personal care products containing phthalates, parabens, and “fragrance.” Unfortunately, only a bit more than two hundred chemicals are measured in NHANES, meaning that a large number of chemicals are not examined (including the majority of known EDCs). Therefore, the number of exposed individuals, as well as the typical levels of exposure, remains unknown. Relatively little sampling of infants and young children occurs in NHANES because most parents are understandably unwilling to subject their children even to blood and urine testing. Conducting such studies is also extraordinarily complicated as a result of the high cost and extensive bureaucracy involved when working with human subjects, particularly children.
Bisphenol A is among the most ubiquitous of EDCs. BPA is the starting material for making polycarbonate plastics and is widely used in a variety of plastic products ranging from bottles and food can linings to toys and water supply lines. BPA is released into the environment and routinely ingested when these plastics degrade. Containers made from or lined with BPA and its relatives can leach BPA and contaminate the contents. Proponents of BPA use often argue that it is rapidly broken down by the body, rendering it harmless, and also note that BPA is not stored in the body, unlike other chemicals.204 This argument has several flaws that the informed consumer should be aware of.
While BPA does not get stored in the body, we are exposed almost constantly, making this a moot point. Although it is true that BPA in your food and water supply can be rapidly bound to a sugar group in the intestine and liver (BPA-glucuronide), BPA can also be directly absorbed into your blood through the skin in your mouth and esophagus (the oral mucosa), through your skin when you touch thermal paper receipts (which are also ubiquitous), and through your lungs when you breathe BPA dust from these same thermal papers. BPA that gets into your body this way bypasses metabolism in the liver and intestines and is available to cause trouble throughout the body. Scientists at Health Canada have shown recently that the so-called breakdown product of BPA, BPA-glucuronide, is a potential obesogen that causes cultured cells to differentiate into fat cells.205 Think about these issues the next time you hear an industry spokesman or apologist tell you how BPA is harmless and rapidly eliminated from the body.
There has been a consumer-driven push to remove BPA from products, particularly those to which children are exposed, such as sippy cups and baby bottles. This is a shining example of how powerful the voices of concerned moms are. The BPA controversy was ignited by University of Missouri biology professor Frederick vom Saal, who together with his colleagues showed that exposure to low levels of BPA—in the range of what is found in people—can harm the prostate.206 Fred and his colleagues followed this with a series of studies showing effects of BPA at low doses in a variety of adverse outcomes.207-211 Since then, a multitude of other studies have created a large body of literature that links low-dose BPA exposure—exposures much lower than what had been previously deemed “safe” by the FDA—to much more than just prostate damage. Not until 2007 did the government begin to take action, starting with an investigation into its own wrongdoings: Sciences International, the firm hired to review BPA toxicity for the government, was found to have corporate clients such as Dow Chemical and BASF that are major manufacturers of BPA.212 To say there was a conflict of interest is an understatement. And not until pressure from Congress in the spring of 2008 (which was provided by Health Canada declaring that BPA was toxic and should be removed from baby bottles) did the FDA admit that BPA might pose a risk to humans. That was when retailers such as Walmart started to pull BPA products from their shelves and we began to see a new market for “BPA-free” products.
Unfortunately, despite this success, BPA remains ubiquitous in our society, and its “new” replacements—such as bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF)—appear to be just as hazardous based on a systematic review of the literature by scientists at the NIEHS.213 BPS and BPF are examples of what I call the industry “whack a mole” game—when we ban or pressure industry to eliminate one chemical, they simply substitute a closely related chemical for which there are fewer data available (in other words, you whack one mole and another one pops up, just like in the game). These alternatives to BPA were assumed to be more resistant to leaching or somehow less toxic than the original chemical, and therein lies the problem: assumed. Unfortunately, many chemical replacements are not extensively tested before being placed on the market and are similar enough to the original chemical that one might reasonably expect they would cause about the same effects. Such is the case with BPS and BPF. Sadly, the legal burden in the United States is on the EPA and other government agencies to demonstrate that the chemicals are hazardous, rather than on the company to show they are safe.
My colleague Professor Laura Vandenberg of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst is one of the “young guns” in the EDC field. Laura is among the trailblazing scientists who are trying to end the controversies surrounding BPA and its analogs. Laura did her graduate work at Tufts University with another friend and colleague, Professor Ana Soto—one of the founders of the EDC research field. Through their academic publications and subsequent press in the media, Ana and Laura sounded the alarm about BPA and breast cancer, stressing that it was wise to follow the “precautionary principle,” especially when considering vulnerable populations including women, their fetuses, and developing children. The precautionary principle holds that when the effects of a chemical are not known or are disputed, it is better to avoid exposure than to suffer the consequences later. In her own lab at UMass, Laura’s research continues to incriminate BPA and its analogs, and more recent research has shown that low-dose exposure to BPS, particularly during pregnancy and lactation, affects maternal behavior in mice as well as how the brain is “wired.”214 This stunning finding was highlighted in a 2017 review aptly titled “The ‘Plastic’ Mother.”215
BPA and BPS are not the only bisphenols out there. Shifting from BPA to BPS to BP-whatever is not the solution. And the bisphenols are not the only EDCs found in plastic. We don’t even know all of the potential EDCs out there today in plastic. In 2013, for instance, German researchers led by Dr. Martin Wagner at Goethe University Frankfurt used an unbiased, functional test to identify a new EDC in bottled water sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) containers.216 Martin and his colleagues tested extracts of water from various manufacturers in a series of assays that measured the estrogenicity or androgenicity of the chemical and discovered several chemicals not even known to be in the bottles. Granted, there have not yet been detailed studies about how these chemicals affect human health, but we know quite a lot about the effects of estrogens and antiandrogens in the body. Studies such as these highlight the need for more research amid the astonishing gap in knowledge of EDCs and other chemicals that leach from food contact materials. It’s worth noting, however, that Martin and his colleagues did not find these EDCs in water samples from some of the same manufacturers that were instead packaged in glass bottles.
The best we can do as citizens is to demand proper testing before approval of chemicals (a worthwhile but perhaps unattainable goal). It behooves us to avoid any suspicious materials as much as we can in our own lives—to practice a “personal precautionary principle.” It can take a long time to rid the environment of these chemicals, even once they are banned (which rarely happens). For example, people continue to test positive for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a class of EDCs banned in 1979. Yet given the hazards of exposure, it is certainly a fight worth having.
WHAT’S IN A NUMBER? DECODING PLASTIC
While I do not expect you to memorize the classification system used by the plastics industry to categorize their wares based on chemical makeup, it helps to know what you are looking at—for the most part—when you see those numbers. All modern plastics are composite materials: they are mixtures of ingredients rather than a single chemical. However, there are broad groups into which plastics can be categorized. Here is your cheat sheet:
Code 1: Made with polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PETE or PET. Items made from this plastic are used once and then recycled into new, secondary products such as carpet. PET plastics are commonly used for beverage bottles, peanut butter jars, medicine jars, combs, rope, and beanbags. PET-based containers sometimes absorb odors and flavors from foods and drinks that are stored inside of them.
Code 2: Made with high-density polyethylene, or HDPE. Items made from this plastic include containers for milk, shampoos and conditioners, soap bottles, detergents, bleaches, and motor oil. Many toys contain this type of plastic as well. Recycled HDPE is used to make plastic lumber and crates, fencing, and more.
Code 3: Made with polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which is not often recycled and is used for plumbing pipes and floor coverings. PVC can also be found in bibs, mattress covers, and a few types of food and detergent containers. PVC can be harmful if ingested and should not come in contact with food items. PVC may also contain phthalates to soften it.
Code 4: Made with low-density polyethylene, or LDPE, which is not typically recycled. LDPE is durable and flexible; therefore, it is often found in food storage items such as plastic cling wrap, sandwich bags, squeezable bottles, and plastic grocery bags. Recycled LDPE is used to make garbage cans, lumber, furniture, and many other household products.
Code 5: Made with polypropylene, or PP, which is not recycled as much as the PET-and HDPE-based plastics. PP is strong and able to withstand high temperatures; therefore, it is used to make containers for food storage, margarine, and ice cream and yogurt. PP is also common in plastic bottle caps, syrup bottles, prescription bottles, and some stadium cups. Recycled PP is used to make durable tools such as ice scrapers, rakes, and battery cables.
Code 6: Made with polystyrene, also known as PS and Styrofoam, which is not recycled efficiently. Examples: disposable coffee cups, plastic food boxes, plastic utensils, and packing foam. Recycled PS is used to make many different kinds of products, including insulation, license plate frames, and rulers.
Code 7: This category is where all the miscellaneous types of plastic are placed. It is the grab bag and includes polycarbonate (PC), which is a plastic made from BPA (new plastic alternatives to polycarbonate are also marked Code 7). Many plastics in this category are difficult to recycle. Examples of PC: baby bottles, multigallon water bottles, clear plastic cutlery, sports bottles, compact discs, and medical storage containers. Plastics that can be recycled from this category are used to make plastic lumber, among other products.
The “safest” plastics in my view are the ones coded 1, 2, 4, and 5. Avoid those coded 3, 6, and 7 unless you are certain that the Code 7 plastic is one of the new, compostable green plastics made from corn, potatoes, tapioca, or rice. Unfortunately, nontoxic, biodegradable plant-derived plastics currently get the same Code 7 as BPA-based plastics, which can easily confuse consumers. The best approach is to avoid plastic as much as possible.
HOW TO REMODEL YOUR PLASTICIZED LIFE
In my home, we use glass, stainless steel, or porcelain for nearly anything that comes into contact with food or heat or can be ingested. Food storage can be tricky because plastic food storage containers, plastic wrap, and plastic bags, including freezer bags are so convenient. While we mostly avoid plastic, I confess to using plastic wrap to cover some containers and plastic freezer bags for dry items (though I try to freeze liquidy foods in glass bowls). Plastic lids are sometimes unavoidable, too. Note that rubbery silicone may not be a safer alternative. Silicone is used in a lot of kitchenware today, from oven mitts, tongs, and pan handles to nonstick baking sheets and parchment paper. Some tips:
This one bears repeating: Give up bottled water and other beverages in plastic containers for good. Get a glass or stainless-steel travel mug or bottle. I use a stainless-steel sports bottle that keeps my water cold.
Use common sense when deciding how to store your foods and beverages. Use glass, ceramic, or stainless steel whenever possible, especially for liquids. Foods frozen in plastic containers will leach fewer contaminants than those stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator (or heated in plastic). The ability of chemicals to leach out of plastics is temperature dependent, for the most part.
Never, ever, microwave, cook, or bake using any plastic.
When buying nonstick cookware, look for ceramic-based coatings, but be sure to purchase from reputable manufacturers who will vouch for the safety and authenticity of their products. In the United States, the FDA requires manufacturers to certify that their ceramic products are free of lead or cadmium. Unfortunately, this is on the honor system—they do not police it. There have been reports that some ceramic glazes leach these chemicals. Beware of cheap imports, as the manufacturers often cut corners. Never heat cookware with nonstick coatings on high heat, as you risk decomposing the coating into toxic vapors that you will breathe (this is particularly bad for various forms of PTFE, aka Teflon coatings).
When purchasing groceries, try to avoid canned goods and items sold in plastic (frozen produce in plastic gets a free pass). Buy cereal, pasta, rice, nuts, and seeds from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container.
Avoid water filtration systems that employ plastic pitchers. As noted in chapter 6, it is best to install the filter at the source of your water.
When buying toys for your children, choose wood with nontoxic paint rather than any type of plastic, even items labeled “BPA-free.” Avoid any toys, pacifiers, and teethers that list PVC as ingredients. Watch out for “hospital-grade silicone,” too. While pacifiers labeled “BPA-free” may employ silicone instead, the replacement may not be any better. Silicone contains organotins, including tributyltin—the obesogen that got me into this research to begin with. Choose bottles made of tempered glass, polypropylene plastic, or polyethylene plastic.
Avoid those microplastics in many personal care products such as exfoliating facial scrubs by not buying items with “polypropylene” or “polyethylene” on the ingredients list.
Avoid phthalates, which are a class of compounds known to be obesogens for their endocrine disrupting effects. Phthalates are used in the making of a wide variety of soft, flexible plastic products including vinyl (PVC) goods (they are also added to lots of personal care products to make their fragrances last longer; see the next chapter). Look for goods marked “phthalate-free,” and if you find yourself in a medical setting that involves medical tubing, catheters, and blood bags, ask for phthalate-free tubing.
Bring your own thermos or mug to the coffee shop when you can.
Bring your own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store (in some states, such as mine, plastic bags have been banned). When you are empty-handed, choose cardboard boxes or paper bags over plastic bags if you have a choice.
The benefits of reducing the amount of plastic we use go far beyond avoiding their harmful, weight-inducing ingredients and include preserving the environment. Plastic does not biodegrade like other organic materials such as plants and paper. Instead, it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces over time, never really going away. Because of this, nearly every single piece of plastic ever produced is still present today somewhere. Every year, more than three hundred million tons of plastic are made around the world, and only 10 percent of all plastic used is properly recycled. The threat to the environment from this vast accumulation of plastic waste is increasing daily. The gyres at the centers of each major ocean on earth are giant garbage patches filled with plastic (recall the earlier example of Henderson Island).203 Birds, fish, and other wildlife can mistake plastic bits for food, become entangled in plastic debris, and so forth. More than one hundred thousand marine animals and one million birds die every year from ingesting and choking on plastic. Pests such as the mosquitoes that carry Zika virus and West Nile virus thrive in water found in discarded plastic containers, unlike more common types of mosquitoes that breed in ponds, streams, and lakes.
Production of plastic products emits millions of tons of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change (even the process of recycling plastic is highly suspect, as it can also be polluting). Chemical breakdown products of discarded plastic can leach into the soil and end up in our food supply. By eliminating the unnecessary plastic from your life, not only will you be helping your waistline, you will be helping the planet.