[A-List] Get Plastic Out of Your Diet

[Bill Totten <shimogamo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

by Paul Goettlich

mindfully.org (November 16 2003)

A similar version of this was published in Living Nutrition magazine vol 15,
Spring (April) 2004


You Are What You Eat

When you eat or drink things that are stored in plastic, taste it, smell it,
wear it, sit on it, and so on, plastic is incorporated into you. In fact, the
plastic gets into the food and food gets into the plastic and you. So, quite
literally, you are what you eat {1} ... drink .. and breathe - plastic! These
plastics are called "Food Contact Substances" by the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), but until April 2002, they were called "Indirect Food
Additives". {2} The new name is cleansed of the implication that plastic gets
into your food. In spite of this semantic deception, migration is a key
assumption of the FDA.

According to Dr George Pauli, Associate Director of Science Policy, FDA Office
of Food Additive Safety, the regulations mandated in 1958 assume that all
plastics migrate toxins into the food they contact. Migration is the movement
of free toxins from plastic into the substances they contact - in this case
it's your food. The manufacturer must "prove" that the migrations fall within an
acceptable range. {3} I agree with the assumption of migration from all plastics,
but I find a critical disparity between the level of science employed by the
regulations and the current scientific knowledge regarding the levels at which
they migrate and the effects they can have. In particular, I am more concerned
with extremely low concentrations. There is also a conflict of interest in
allowing the manufacturer to submit its own testing to the FDA as proof of
anything. We invite the fox into the henhouse and are surprised when there's
nothing left but eggshells and feathers.

The amount of migration and corresponding toxicological effects are highly
disputed topics, even within the FDA, which has commonly acquiesced to industry
in its regulation of technologies that are used in the production of our foods -
plastics, pesticides, growth hormones, irradiation, and microwave. This is clear
from the mass of expert and citizen testimony against such technologies that
regulatory agencies bend over backwards and jump through flaming hoops to please
their corporate clients, as they are called.

There is a worst plastic for any purpose - polyvinylchloride (vinyl or PVC).
However, there is no best plastic to contain food or drink. It is my hope that
this article will clarify this viewpoint. By the time you've finished reading,
you should be closer to forming your own evaluation of plastics.


Its Uses

Plastic is used in contact with nearly all packaged foods. Most cardboard milk
containers are now coated with plastic {4} rather than wax. It is sprayed on
both commercial and organic produce to preserve its freshness. Plastic is even
used to irrigate, mulch, wrap, and transport organic food. Organic bananas now
come from wholesalers with a sticky plastic wrapping the cut stem to protect the
bananas from a black mold. {5} The mold is controlled on non-organic bananas by
dipping the cut ends in a fungicide. Chiquita would only reveal that it's a
"food grade plastic", which means that it meets minimum regulatory standards.
But since it has a sticky feel to it, I suspect it either carries a fungicide
or its physical characteristics act as a fungicide. Either way, if it is or
acts as a fungicide, the EPA regulates it as a pesticide, which fungicides
are considered a subset of. {6} In a way, this is similar to the regulation
of corn that is genetically engineered to carry the toxic bacterium bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) in every cell. Rather than the FDA regulating it as a food,
the EPA regulates it as a pesticide. Incredible as it may seem, they see our
food as a pesticide.

According to the FDA scientist I spoke with, it's a proprietary formula that
he doesn't know about and would offer nothing beyond that. Disclosure of
proprietary information is a criminal offense. {7} All plastic manufacturers
hide behind trade secrets. This is true with nearly all consumer products.
It is quite impossible to know the chemical makeup of any plastic without
paying a substantial amount of money for an independent lab analysis.


How is it made?

In a nutshell, plastic is made by combining monomers into polymers under great
heat and pressure in a process called polymerization. Each manufacturer has its
own proprietary formula for each plastic. And each uses a variety of additives
such as plasticizers for flexibility, UV filters for protection from sunlight,
antistatic agents, flame-retardants, colorants, antioxidants, and more. Heavy
metals such as cadmium, mercury, and lead are common additives. There are also
chemicals used to facilitate production such as mold releases, and countless
other toxic chemicals regularly added to plastic consumer goods without our
knowledge or approval. Many of the products and byproducts of the intermediary
steps of plastics production are used in other plastics or industrial processes
and products such as pesticides or fertilizer. For holistic thinkers, the
mention of plastics and pesticides in the same sentence should begin an
informative thought process, while keeping in mind that they all have
complete regulatory approval.


The True Cost of Plastic

Plastic is ubiquitous in our lives because it is convenient and relatively
inexpensive. It is advertised as safe and that it saves lives. {8} Its safety
is based on outdated science and regulations. And while it saves lives in the
short run, the record against plastic is looking quite different.

Its convenience comes from being lightweight and its ability to absorb impact
shock without breaking, which on its own merit, is hard to argue with. It comes
in an endless range of colors and finishes, is pliable, and is easily formed and
molded. Most would say it's a perfect material, right? Here's where the bad news
begins.

Its inexpensiveness is the result of a large portion of the costs associated
with its life - production, use and disposal - being put onto society as a whole.
This unsolicited financial burden on society manifests itself as increased taxes
to finance municipal curbside recycling programs, landfill space, and
incineration. It also increases health care and insurance costs as a result of
its incineration polluting the air, water, and food. I'll give much more detail
on the negative health effects later, but for now, suffice to say that a full
and truthful lifecycle analysis would reveal that the long-term negative health
and socioeconomic effects at the local and global scales far outweigh the
benefits realized by the use of plastics.


What's so bad about plastic?

For decades, the plastics industry has deceived us with assurances that the
polymerization process binds the constituent chemicals together so perfectly
that the resulting plastic is completely nontoxic and passes through us without
a hitch. In spite of this industry disinformation, {9} the polymerization
process is never 100% perfect. Logically then, there are always toxicants
available for migration into the many things they contact - your food, air,
water, skin, and so on. Both the FDA and the industry know this. However,
because of many millions of dollars worth of advertising and public relations
work, consumers are educated to think that plastics are safe.

The additives utilized are not bound to the already imperfect plastic, leaving
them quite free to migrate. One quick example: without a plasticizer additive,
PVC would be rigid. The plasticizer resides between the molecules of the PVC,
acting as a lubricant that allows those molecules to slide by each other, and
thus flex. Many containers used for food or water are made of it. Even Barbie
dolls are made of it. The plasticizer migrates out from day one. And as it ages,
the migration can visibly weep out of it. {10}

Plastics, their additives and other processing chemicals can be toxic at
extremely low concentrations. In fact, some are significantly more toxic at
extremely low concentrations than at much higher concentrations, which is
contrary to the FDA scientist's paradigm that, "The dose makes the poison",
meaning that the higher the concentration, the more toxic something is. It is an
interpretation of the writings of Paracelsus, an alchemist who wrote in the 16th
century that, "Alle Ding sind Gift und nichts ohne Gift; alein die Dosis macht
das ein Ding kein Gift ist" [All things are poison and nothing without poison;
alone it is the dose that makes a thing no poison]. {11} It's now 500 years
later and that assumption of Paracelsus is still the basis for the many
regulations. Except on chemical-by-chemical investigations by various
independent, institutional, and academic labs, plastics are not explored
for harmful effects or regulated in any meaningful way.


Extremely Low Doses and Synergy

Since it is known that all plastics migrate into food, it behooves us to look
for the evidence at meaningful levels of detection, at and below single-digit
parts-per-trillion (ppt) or ng/kg. Extremely low doses are especially relevant
because they can upset the natural balance of the endocrine system. To
paraphrase the report of an EPA workshop in 1996, endocrine disruptors (EDs)
are external agents that interfere with the production, release, transport,
metabolism, binding, action or elimination of natural hormones in the body
responsible for maintaining internal balances and the regulation of
developmental processes. {12}

Current knowledge of EDs turns the work of Paracelsus - that guy born in the
15th century - upside down. Some chemicals can be more toxic at extremely low
doses than extremely high doses. The timing of the exposure can be much more
relevant than its dose. Most vulnerable times are in periods of rapid growth,
such as those in embryo and children right up to puberty. They can be exposed
in the womb and before conception, if sperm and/or ovum are contaminated. The
maladies of the children of Gulf War veterans are a prime example of this type
of exposure. {13}

Synergy is an important issue that is mostly disregarded by the FDA. Many will
even debunk the idea that low dose synergy is real. In combination with other
commonly used products, the toxicity of the migratory chemicals from plastics
can be potentiated by synergy. A synergy can occur between two or more chemicals
that elevate the combination's toxicity to hundreds of times greater than that
of the individual chemicals. Besides plastics, other household chemicals can be
part of a synergy with plastics.

Nuclear radiation can also severely damage the endocrine system. According to Dr
Ernest Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiological Physics at the University
of Pittsburgh Medical School, the synergy between nuclear radiation and chemical
toxicants is well documented. {14} Gulf War vets (I and II) were and still are
being exposed to depleted uranium (DU) from the tons of armour-busting shells
they fired being distributed across the Gulf Region as an aerosol smaller than
the size of a virus. {15} The hazardous materials (MOPP) suit that soldiers are
given do not protect them from the infinitesimally small particles of DU because
the high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters do not work below 1/10 of a
micron. Each one of us is exposed to extremely low levels of radiation from the
nuclear power plants scattered about the US. {16}

On the home front, even the products in our day-in and day-out humdrum lives
are coated with, contain, or are made of synthetic chemicals that can interact
synergistically with each other. The list is endless but includes beauty
products such as nail polish, eyeliner, deodorant and aftershave; household
cleaning products such as tile and carpet cleaners, air fresheners that are
solid, plug-in, or spray. Even gas and diesel engine exhaust are included.
Quite frankly, the FDA doesn't even consider all sources of a chemical in
its review of industry product applications.

Consider that there between 87,000 to 100,000 chemicals in commercial production.
At the time I wrote this, there were 22,241,247 organic and inorganic substances
registered with Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry. {17} Only eight
months before that, there were 1,112,474 fewer chemicals. {18} They are
regulated and tested in what I would call a "don't look - don't see" style of
science that boggles the minds of those who look just a little below the surface
of the happy little corporate-science myths. The focus is on the wonders of
plastic with a purposeful avoidance of the painfully evident negative human
and environmental health effects. Using the more conservative 87,000 chemicals,
there are approximately 1.063725377 x 10 to the 86,991st power different
combinations possible that could have a synergistic effect on toxicity. {19}
For the purposes of this article, that number is roughly 1 with 87,000 zeros
after it. Even if researchers had the time and money to test them all, they
still wouldn't know what to look for, because there is no precedent. In addition,
one must account for the uniqueness of each living organism and its unique
environment, which further expand the possible synergies and possibilities.


Water Stored in Plastic

Water bottles are be made from various types of plastic - polycarbonate (PC),
polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene
(HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl), and
others. To reiterate, they all migrate to some degree. I will focus on just one
chemical that migrates out of one plastic that is used to make products with
high use and sales profiles.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a monomer used in the synthesis of PC plastics, epoxy
resins, and composites, as well as a heat stabilizer in PVC. The list of
products containing BPA is long. Some rigid containers such as water and baby
bottles are made of PC. The popular NalgeneR water bottles are made of LexanR
brand PC. In the medical industry, it is used for syringes, containers, lenses,
and dental products. Keep in mind that the FDA regulates only plastics in
contact with foods and not any of the other exposures a person might commonly
experience every day at home, school, or the office. Because the FDA approves
plastics for specific uses rather than for individual chemicals, BPA is not
explicitly regulated. {20} It is important to note that all exposures, no matter
what origin, are relevant and cumulative. Even other chemicals that act in
the body in similar ways can be part of the total effect. The body's natural
defenses try to break down toxins as they enter. These are called metabolites
and can be significantly more toxic than the original chemical.

Today it is common that dentists coat children's teeth with dental sealants {21}
that harden (polymerize) within the mouth. This exposure to BPA is large enough
to have biologic effects. {22} Just as with other plastics, dental sealants
polymerize imperfectly, leaving free monomers to be ingested or absorbed through
the skin within the mouth. When it comes to dental solutions without plastic,
the choices are limited. And I must say that I am extremely frustrated by the
situation. One orthodontist I spoke with creates retainers from metal wire that
can replace the standard polycarbonate ones. In tooth replacement, even some
materials that dentists call ceramic have a polymer matrix. Gold caps or crowns
are an excellent choice, but they too are glued into place with a volatile
polymer. By far, the best alternative is to keep your teeth healthy by brushing
and flossing regularly, and by eating a healthy diet.

Food and beverages cans are coated with a BPA-containing plastic. During the
processing of canned food, it is sterilized in the can at 250 degrees fahrenheit
for one hour. Because heat increases its migration, this is an especially large
exposure for people who eat canned foods. As PC plastics grow old, BPA and other
chemicals are released. But even when they are new BPA migrates out of PC
plastic.

The Code of Federal Regulations section on PC plastics allows for migratory
chemicals in the hundreds of parts-per-million (ppm) range as well as a
percentage of the plastic's total weight. While concentrations of ppm and higher
are relevant, there is vast area of exposure that falls well below the FDA's
radar in the parts-per-trillion (ppt) range and lower. Testing methods are
available, but the cost would be far greater. Because the industry is
responsible for testing, it protests madly about the idea that these
concentrations are relevant. If the table was turned and the burden of proof
was on the consumer, the FDA would demand the most up to date testing methods.
A graphic example of 1 ppt is one drop of liquid in 660 rail tank cars. That's
a train 6 miles long!

In the year 2000, Consumers Union (CU) tested water from five-gallon PC plastic
bottles for BPA, They found from 0.5 ppb to 11 ppb in water samples from eight
of the ten 5-gallon jugs. {23} After industry spin-meisters discredited the
study as being flawed, not many regulatory red flares were sent up within the
FDA. This type of industry disinformation is standard operating procedure.
Most times, the statements made could be compared it to one child calling
another derogatory names, hoping that the recipient will become persona non
grata with the other children. However, the CU study was indeed valid and the
concentrations of BPA that were found are extremely relevant.

CU also found BPA in samples from baby bottles at worrisome levels. {24} CU
advised its readers to avoid exposure to BPA by "dispos[ing] of polycarbonate
baby bottles and replac[ing] them with bottles made of glass or polyethylene,
an opaque, less-shiny plastic that does not leach bisphenol-A". {25} That advice
attracted the wrath of the plastics industry. But I will go further and advise
readers not to serve or store any food - liquid or solid, water-based or fatty,
hot or cold - in any plastic.

In April 2003, a study was published about BPA accidentally killing mice that
had been held in polycarbonate cages at a lab. {26} It was found accidentally
when it ruined a lab experiment that heated yeast in PC flasks to find out if
the yeast produced estrogens. It was discovered that BPA from the PC flasks was
the material that was estrogenic, and that it competed with the natural estrogen
in a rat's body. {27} I asked one noted researcher why labs still use plastics
considering what it has been known since 1993 that BPA migrates and is
hormonally active. The response was, "What are we supposed to do, go back to
glass?" The tone of voice made it seem as if I had advised going back in time
to live in the Stone Age. This is the state of what is still amazingly called
science. There is a lack of reason and logic that goes well beyond what I knew
possible before I began looking at the many aspects of this technology. Truth
is sought, but the obvious is knocked to the ground and trampled over in the
stampede to secure funding.


BPA's Rap Sheet

The list of negative health effects associated in some way with exposure to BPA
is remarkably long. The most visible effect may be aneuploidy, a chromosome
abnormality found in more than five percent of pregnancies. Most aneuploid
fetuses die in utero. About one-third of all miscarriages are aneuploid, making
it the leading known cause of pregnancy loss. Among conceptions that survive to
term, aneuploidy is the leading genetic cause of developmental disabilities and
mental retardation. About one in 300 liveborn infants and one in three
miscarriages are aneuploid. It is associated with Down syndrome {28}, Patau
syndrome {29}, Edwards syndrome {30}, Klinefelter syndrome {31}, Turner syndrome
{32,} Cri du chat syndrome {33}, and Alzheimer's disease {34}. And each of these
bears its own extensive list of maladies covering all parts and functions of the
human body - both physical and mental. The condition at birth is directly
related to the type of chromosome abnormality present in the embryo at the time
of conception. {35} It is well documented that aneuploidy contributes to the
increased risk of spontaneous abortion when the female partner is older, but it
is also thought that males more than thirty years old may increase the risk of
spontaneous abortion when the female partner is less than thirty years of age.
{36}

Being one of many known endocrine disruptors, BPA affects development,
intelligence, memory, learning, and behavior, skeleton, body size and shape,
significant increase in prostate size, decreased epididymal weight and a longer
anogenital distance {37}, prostate cancer {38}, reduced sperm count {39}, both
physical and mental aspects of sexuality. It may have something to do with
obesity {40}, and so many more that a separate article is required to list them
all. In other words, if the fetus lives, any one or many parts of its body can
be permanently affected. The problems may become evident at any age.

Alzheimer's disease generally occurs after the age of fifty. In those afflicted
with it, areas of brain become smaller with cell death and the cavities left
become enlarged. The areas most affected are control memory, logical thinking,
and personality. Only five to ten percent of the cases are inherited. Fourteen
million people with Alzheimer's disease are predicted by 2050.

BPA is about 10,000-fold less potent than 17s-estradiol, a potent estrogen that
is synthesized primarily in the ovary, but also in the placenta, testis and
possibly adrenal cortex. Because of the disparity, industry representatives
claim it causes no harm at the levels that the majority of people are exposed to.
However, a study in 2001 showed that even at such low potency, when combined
with other xenoestrogens (estrogens from outside the body), they act together
additively, effectively raising the body load of estrogen to dangerous levels.
{41} Another study showed that there is an increased sensitivity to BPA during
the perinatal period, which begins with completion of the twentieth to
twenty-eighth week of gestation and ends seven to 28 days after birth. {42}
Exposure to BPA increases risk of mammary tumors. {43} To reiterate, there is
no shortage of research published on the negative health effects of BPA.


Avoiding Plastic

While it's impossible to avoid all plastics, we must rid our diets and lives
of this toxic material as much as possible. There is a huge amount of data
confirming the migration of plastic monomers and additives in all steps of food
processing. {44} And in my opinion and that of many top research scientists, it
is only a matter of time and money spent on new studies before the harm is found.
Because of corporate political campaign financing, meaningful regulations
resulting from studies will take even longer to become law. We must protect
our families while the obvious results trickle in.

I strongly advise individuals and governments to ban plastics wherever possible
by utilizing the precautionary principal. The Wingspread Statement on the
Precautionary Principle is the consensus statement of a conference in 1998.
Simply put it states that if you have reasonable suspicion of harm coming from
(plastic in this case) then you must stop it from happening; the burden of proof
must be on industry, not consumers; alternatives must be fully explored before
using a new material or technology; and any decisions regarding such activities
must be "open, informed, and democratic" and "must include affected parties".
{45}

Evidence of the negative health effects of plastics already exists in sufficient
quantity to halt the use of it in contact with food. More importantly, I feel
that the manufacture of plastic itself must be halted for a multitude of reasons.
Besides causing an endless number of human deaths, disabilities, and diseases,
plastic is clogging all habitats of the world and destroying the ecosystem.
There is now six times more plastic than plankton floating around in the middle
of the Pacific Ocean. Plankton is a major food source for sea animals. {46} A
large portion of it is preconsumer plastic that has not been made into a product
yet. Called nurdels, they look very much like plankton in size and color.
According to a paper by Arrigo et al in Geophysical Research Letters in October
2003, plankton production has been declining for the last twenty years with
rising ocean surface temperatures. Along with increasing plastic quantities,
the ratio of plastic to plankton is increasing, making it more of a target for
hungry animals.

The researcher who found this, Captain Charles Moore, Director of the Algalita
Marine Research Foundation, told me that new data indicate that the ratio of
plastic to zooplankton is even higher in two so-called floating plastic
"Garbage Patches" that are each bigger than the State of Texas. {47, 48}

Nurdles are incorporated into all strata of the oceans with no known method of
removal. DDE, a metabolite of DDT, and other dioxin-like chemicals concentrate
on the surface of the plastic nurdles at a rate up to a million times that found
in the ocean. {49} Captain Moore's presentation includes images of sea animals
that have suffocated and starved as a result. Even more startling is seeing
plastic bits incorporated into the flesh of the sea animals.


Conclusion

I spent about two years answering telephone inquiries at an environmental
organization in Berkeley. A great number of the callers asked what the safest
plastic to use in contact with food or water is. They also wanted to know what
the safest plastic is to microwave food in. My answer was that plastic should
never contact food. And that one should never microwave food - it's probably as
bad or worse than putting it in plastic because it creates free radicals in the
food that damage cells in your body. It also heats the plastic, thus increasing
the rate of migration into the food. That answer wasn't popular with either the
caller or the organization, which likes to point out positive alternatives.
However, plastic is the alternative! And glass, wood, metal, and ceramics are
the real things. Plastic is merely a foul imitation thereof. By using the least
offensive plastic, one only prolongs and increases the toxic load on the Earth
and in our bodies. If saving trees is your aim, stop using so much stuff. But
in the mean time, don't further degrade the environment with more plastic.

As consumers, we always look for ways to maintain the status quo of our modern
lives. However, the only logic I can see in the regulation of food contact
plastics is profit at the expense of our health, the economy, society, and
environment. You needn't be a polymer scientist to know that plastic shouldn't
contact food. What is essential though is a firm standing in reality and a good
grip on logic. It also requires being free of ties to the industry before that
logic becomes evident.

First set aside your assumptions and look at the known long- and short-term
negative effects of plastic on health, economy, environment, and society, as
well as the long-term viability of the human race. Next contrast that with what
you find as benefits. I guarantee that the stack of chips will be far larger in
the negative pile.

Further Reading

Alternatives to Plastic Paul Goettlich (August 03 2005)
http://mindfully.org/Plastic/Alternatives/Alternatives-Plastic-Goettlich3aug05.htm

Be sure to browse through the Plastics index of Mindfully.org

78 Reasonable Questions to Ask about Any Technology - Stephanie Mills / Clamor,
i.18, Jan/Feb03

Identification Of Volatile Organic Compounds In a New Automobile - Scientific
Instrument Services 23dec99

EDSTAC Review - Davis Baltz / Commonweal 6may00

Middlesex and the Limitations of Myth - Thea Hillman / ISNA News Spring03



References

{1} Brillat-Savarin, JA. Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie
Transcendante ... Paris: Sautelet et Cie, 1826. Note: Jean Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) was a French lawyer and politician who achieved fame
through a book, Physiologie du Gout. "You are what you eat comes from the quote
by Brillat-Savarin "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are".
{2} Guidance for Industry: Preparation of Food Contact Notifications and Food
Additive Petitions for Food Contact Substances: Chemistry Recommendations FINAL
GUIDANCE US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety & Applied
Nutrition, Office of Food Additive Safety April 2002
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/opa2pmnc.html
{3} Telephone conversation with Dr George Pauli, Associate Director of Science
Policy, FDA Office of Food Additive Safety, and Mike Herndon, Head of Media,
FDA Office of Food Additive Safety 22 October 2003 12:49 PM
{4} Polyethylene (source FDA telephone conversation)
{5} Cladosporium: Ascomycete. The most common mold in the world, found in soil
and on textiles, tomatoes, spinach, bananas, and dead vegetation. For image
http://www.carolinafilters.com/FunclspP.jpg
{6} Fungicides are a category of pesticide as regulated by the EPA.
See What is a Pesticide? US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs 14feb97
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/What-Is-A-Pesticide.htm
{7} Telephone conversation with Dr George Pauli, Associate Director of Science
Policy, FDA Office of Food Additive Safety, and Mike Herndon, Head of Media, FDA
Office of Food Additive Safety 22 October 2003 12:49 PM
{8} Plastics: An Important Part Of Your Healthy Diet You could think of them as ...
Advertising by the American Plastics Council found in National Geographic
magazine (abt.1996)
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/6th-Basic-Food-Group.htm
{9} Disinformation pronunciation: (")di-"sin-f&r-'mA-sh&n Function: noun Date:
1939 : false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the
planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth
Merriam-Webster online http://webster.com/
{10} Barbie's PVC Body Gets Sticky as Dibutyl Phthalate Migrates Yvonne Shashoua
/ Conservation Department The National Museum of Denmark 19apr99
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Barbies-Health-Hazard.htm
{11} Paracelsus: Dose Response. in the Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology WILLIAM
C KRIEGER / Academic Press Oct01. Robert Krieger, ed. University of California,
Riverside, Riverside, California, USA.
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Paracelsus-Dose-ToxicologyOct01.htm
{12} Research Needs for the Risk Assessment of Health and Environmental Effects
of Endocrine Disruptors: A Report of the US EPA-sponsored Workshop Environmental
Health Perspectives, v.104, s.4, Aug96
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/RJ-Kavlock-et-al-Aug96.htm
{13} What Are Endocrine Disruptors? Paul Goettlich 2jul03
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/EDs-PWG-16jun01.htm
{14} Telephone conversation with Ernest Sternglass, PhD, Professor Emeritus of
Radiological Physics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School has written
numerous articles on the health effects of low-level radiation. He is Director
and Chief Technical Officer of the RPHP Baby Teeth Study http://www.rphp.org
{15} Leuren Moret Speaking on Depleted Uranium in Los Altos, California 21apr03
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DU-Leuren-Moret21apr03.htm
{16} As evidenced by strontium-90 being detected by the Tooth Fairy Project
in many thousands of baby teeth http://www.radiation.org/envelope.html
{17} CAS Registry Numbers for new compounds and assistance with nomenclature can
be obtained by writing to Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Client Services, 2540
Olentangy River Road, P.O. Box 3343, Columbus, OH 43210, or by visiting their
website at http://www.cas.org
{18} Today's date: 9 October 2003
{19} Formula: 2^n - n - 1 This is called a factorial. Dr Bruce Sagan, a
mathematician at Michigan State University, did the calculation. Example: where
2^n means 2 to the power n. So, for example, when n = 10 then there are 2^10 -
10 - 1 = 1024 - 11 = 1013. This formula accounts for duplications such as 1,2,3
= 1,3,2 = 2,3,1 = 2,1,3 = 3,1,2 = 3,2,1
{20} 21 CFR § 177.1580 Polycarbonate Resins. Code of Federal Regulations
rev.1apr03
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/PC/21CFR177.1580-Polycarbonate-1apr03.htm
{21} Bisphenol-A (BPA) For Doctors and Dentists. Paul Goettlich 7may02 http://w
ww.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Bisphenol-A-For-Doctors-Dentists.htm
{22} Determination of Bisphenol A and Related Aromatic Compounds Released from
Bis-GMA-Based Composites and Sealants by High Performance Liquid Chromatography
Environmental Health Perspectives v.108, n.1, Jan00
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Bisphenol-A-Aromatic-Compounds.htm
{23} http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/5-Gallon-Water-Jugs.htm
{24} Food For Thought: What's Coming Out of Baby1s Bottle? Janet Raloff /
Science News 31jul99 v.156, n.5
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Babys-Bottle-Roloff.htm    also see:
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/BPA-Baby-BottlesJul03.htm
{25} Baby Alert: New Findings about Plastics Consumer Reports Special Report
21apr99 http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Baby-Bottles-CU21apr99.htm
{26} BPA and Plastic Lab Animal Cages When Disaster Strikes: Rethinking Caging
Materials Lab Animal v.32, n.4, Apr03
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/BPA-Lab-Animal-CagesApr03.htm
Also see: Bisphenol A Exposure Causes Meiotic Aneuploidy in the Female Mouse
Current Biology, v.13, 1apr03
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/BPA-Mouse1apr03.htm
{27} Bisphenol-A: an estrogenic substance is released from polycarbonate flasks
during autoclaving Endocrinology 132(6):2277-8 Jun93
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/BPA-Polycarbonate-Flasks.htm
{28} Terry Hassold and Patricia Hunt. To Err (meiotically) Is Human: The Genesis
of Human Aneuploidy Nature Reviews Genetics 2, 280 -291 (2001); V.2, n.4 Apr01
http://www.nature.com/cgitaf/DynaPage.taffile=/nrg/journal/v2/n4/abs/nrg0401_280a_fs.html
Also see: Bisphenol A Exposure Causes Meiotic Aneuploidy in the Female Mouse
Current Biology, v.13, 1apr03
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/BPA-Mouse1apr03.htm
{29} Patau Syndrome - Robert G Best, PhD, Director, Professor, Department of
Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Genetics, University of South Carolina
School of Medicine - eMedicine.com http://author.emedicine.com/ped/topic1745.htm
{30} Edwards syndrome - Harold Chen, MD, MS, FAAP, FACMG, Chief, Professor,
Department of Pediatrics, Section of Perinatal Genetics, Louisiana State
University Medical Center - eMedicine.com
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic652.htm
{31} Klinefelter syndrome - Harold Chen, MD, MS, FAAP, FACMG, Chief, Professor,
Department of Pediatrics, Section of Perinatal Genetics, Louisiana State
University Medical Center http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1252.htm
{32} Campbell Biology 6th ed.
http://webpages.marshall.edu/~adkinsda/B111OutlinesChromInhAlt.html
Verified by personal conversation with author of the URL, Dr Dean A Adkins, a
biology professor at Marshall University
{33} Cri-du-chat syndrome - Harold Chen, MD, MS, FAAP, FACMG, Chief, Professor,
Department of Pediatrics, Section of Perinatal Genetics, Louisiana State
University Medical Center. eMedicine.com
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic504.htm
{34} Alzheimer Disease - Jeffrey A Gunter, MD, Staff Physician, Department of
Surgery, Division of Emergency Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center.
eMedince.com http://www.emedicine.com/aaem/topic12.htm
{35} Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area website 14oct03
http://www.rscbayarea.com/articles/pgd_indications.html
{36} Does Male Age Affect the Risk of Spontaneous Abortion? An Approach Using
Semiparametric Regression - Am. J. Epidemiol. 2003 157: 815-824. 1may03 v.157,
i.9 http://ifr69.vjf.inserm.fr/~web292/fer/Remyhtml/Slama5-2003-AmJEpidemiol.pdf
{37} Reproductive Malformation of the Male Offspring Following Maternal Exposure
to Estrogenic Chemicals - Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology
and Medicine 224:61-68 Jun00
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Maternal-Exposure-Repro-Malform.htm
{38} The Xenoestrogen Bisphenol A Induces Inappropriate Androgen Receptor
Activation and Mitogenesis in Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Cells - Molecular Cancer
Therapeutics May 2002
http://mct.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/1/7/515
{39} Sakaue, M, S Ohsako, R Ishimura, S Kurosawa, M Kurohmaru, Y Hayashi, Y Aoki,
J Yonemoto and C Tohyama. 2001. Bisphenol-A Affects Spermatogenesis in the Adult
Rat Even at a Low Dose. Journal of Occupational Health 43:185 -190.
{40} A Synthetic Antagonist for the Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor
Inhibits Adipocyte Differentiation - J Biol Chem, Vol. 275, Issue 3, 1873-1877,
January 21, 2000. http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/275/3/1873
{41} Rajapakse, N, D Ong and A Kortenkamp. 2001. Defining the Impact of Weakly
Estrogenic Chemicals on the Action of Steroidal Estrogens. Toxicological
Sciences 60: 296-304.
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Estrogenic-Steroidal-EstrogensApr01.htm
{42} PPT presentation by James Tilton, PhD, Professor of Reproductive Physiology,
Department of Animal & Range Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/jtilton/powerpointpresentations/gonadotropins.ppt
{43} Beverly S. Rubin et al. Perinatal Exposure to Low Doses of Bisphenol A
Affects Body Weight, Patterns of Estrous Cyclicity, and Plasma LH Levels.
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 109, Number 7, July 2001
http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/members/2001/109p675-680rubin/rubin-full.html
{44} Email communication (9oct03) with Dr Nicolas Olea, Dept Radiologia y
Medicina Fisica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18071,
Spain http://www.ugr.es/university.htm
{45} The Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle Rachel's
Environment & Health News n.586, 19feb98
http://www.mindfully.org/Precaution/Precautionary-Principle-Rachels.htm
{46} A comparison of plastic and plankton in the North Pacific central gyre -
Marine Pollution Bulletin, v.42, n.12, Dec01
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Moore-North-Pacific-Central-Gyre.htm
{47} Email from Charles Moore, Director of the Algalita Marine research
Foundation.
{48} I am an advisor to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) in Long
Beach, California http://www.algalita.org
{49} Plastic Resin Pellets as a Transport Medium for Toxic Chemicals in the
Marine Environment - Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35, 318-324
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Pellets-Transport-Medium.htm


Copyright Paul Goettlich. Please do use this article in your writing, but please
also give recognition to the author and this website, http://www.mindfully.org

See also "Alternatives to Plastic" by Paul Goettlich (August 03 2005)
http://mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm


Bill Totten     http://billtotten.blogspot.com/