Alternative food containers, such as those made of bioplastics, are being promoted as a way to reduce our exposure to plastic in food. But there is still a lack of knowledge around their impacts.
Regulations in the US and EU are intended to ensure that cosmetics and other personal-care products are safe, but the two continents approach the issue in different ways.
Marco Verch/Flickr
Oona Freudenthal, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
From miscarriages to cancer, poor regulation of cosmetics in the US have taken a devastating toll on consumers’ lives. Are European consumers any safer?
Most plastic products that are clear and strong are made using bisphenol A, or BPA.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency is reexamining the health effects of bisphenol A. A chemist explains why BPA is in plastics and why it’s hard to find a safe replacement.
The chemical BPA has been shown to leach from food packaging products into our bodies.
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Due to increasing concerns over the health hazards posed by BPA, the Food and Drug Administration plans to reevaluate the safety of the controversial chemical for use in everyday products.
BPA is an industrial chemical used to make hard, clear plastic known as polycarbonate. It’s also used in the lining of some cans. Many hard plastic bottles no longer contain BPA, and it’s illegal to sell baby bottles with BPA in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
As much as 53 million tonnes of plastic waste could spill into the world’s rivers, lakes and oceans by 2030 — even if countries meet their commitments.
New research shows that chemicals leached from ocean plastic impair the growth and oxygen production of the planet’s most abundant photosynthesiser - endangering marine ecosystems and the climate.
Many plastics that used BPA have now replaced it with substitutes like BPS, a related molecule that may have just as many health issues.
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BPA, used widely in plastics and as a liner in food cans, was replaced by a related chemical called BPS. But it seems that this substitute may also harm eggs and sperm and disrupt hormones.
Microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea.
By Dirk Wahn/shutterstock.com
Microplastics are everywhere–our water, soil, and even the air we breathe. The consequences of this exposure on human health is unknown. But studies in animals give us reason to worry.
Affluent consumers may have more access to information about food than lower-income earners, but they are just as vulnerable to misinformation and pseudoscience.
Harmful chemicals in shampoo and other personal products can cause real harm once they’re washed down the drain.
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Dana Cordell, University of Technology Sydney; Dena Fam, University of Technology Sydney e Nick Florin, University of Technology Sydney
Regulation can’t keep up with the thousands of harmful chemicals that wash down our drains. Rather, companies should take responsibility for their products – before they hit the market.
The headline image of the University of Melbourne’s Facebook link to its press release about recent research on Bisphenol A (BPA) is of a takeaway coffee cup. The kind that does not have any BPA in it…
Wenhui Qiu, Shanghai University; Ming Yang, Shanghai University e Nancy Wayne, University of California, Los Angeles
Manufacturers have removed the industrial chemical BPA from many products over concerns that it mimics hormones in the body. Now studies show that BPS, a popular substitute, has similar effects.
For most of us, food is more than fuel, it is a source of delight and an important part of healthy living. Also for most of us, our food must travel substantial distances from producer to our plate, with…
Environmental chemicals are found in a range of common household products.
Water bottles via www.shutterstock.com.
A paper has just been released that will raise health concerns about Bisphenol A again. The paper, “Low-dose exposure to bisphenol A and replacement bisphenol S induces precocious hypothalamic neurogenesis…
Purchase a plastic water bottle, and there’s a good chance that it will feature a “BPA-free” label. You might be seeing it more often because the industrial chemical Bisphenol-A has now been removed from…