Harmful soft plastics; phthalates & other estrogen-mimic

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Fri 17 Mar 2006 05:54

What kind of dangers does buying a lot pre-packaged fruit pose if you are already on this diet?

CurlyGirl · Post by **CurlyGirl** » Fri 17 Mar 2006 22:39

What exactly do you mean by pre-packaged, Thomas? Do you mean, already cut-up fruit which has been wrapped in saran wrap or placed in some sort of flexible plastic container? Or whole fruit whose peels have been in contact with plastic packaging? In the latter case, it's no problem, because on this diet we generally peel all our fruit before consumption anyway (to remove redundant fibre, pesticide traces, etc). In the former case, I wouldn't really recommend buying cut-up fruit because its quality diminishes rapidly once the protective skin/peel has been removed, and also the flesh of the fruit then comes into direct contant with soft plastic which is notorious for transferring oestrogen-mimicking plasticiser chemicals into the food. Bleuch! Bad news for male sperm counts... but in terms of acne, I don't think it makes a difference, though I am prepared to stand corrected.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat 18 Mar 2006 15:51

Yeah, I mean prepackaged, cut-up melon.
I buy a lot of of it because none of the whole fruits are ripe.
Sometimes I can actually taste the plastic, but my body hasn't rejected it yet...

I'd like to keep buying it because I love melon and can't find it ripe otherwise, but I also don't want something like this to ruin a lot of the other benefits of the diet

Bad news for male sperm counts...

Yeah I heard something about the compounds in plastic mimicking male sex hormones. Anyone know anything about this?

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 18 Mar 2006 20:47

Yes, phthalates are supposed to keep the plastic flexible, and they are very bad for our health indeed.
Pfannhauser, W. et al, Phthalate in Lebensmitteln. Forschungsberichte-Sektion 3 (in German) , 1995 / Ch.3.
Im pretty sure there is much more info about this subject available.
Keyword: "phthalates"

CurlyGirl · Post by **CurlyGirl** » Sat 18 Mar 2006 22:55

If you want to read some books about this issue, the best ones I've found (because I used to teach this subject - I'm an environmental historian) are the following:

Deborah Cadbury: The Feminization of Nature
Theo Colborn: Our Stolen Future

We definitely need to educate people about phthalates (pronounced 'thay-lates') and various other oestrogen mimicks, like bromelated flame-retardants (found in mattresses and carpets, etc), PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxins (created by city incinerators and also the paper-making industry). If we want to survive as a species, we have to be able to reproduce, and these chemicals act precisely to damage our reproductive and endocrine systems.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Tue 26 Jan 2010 13:44

From another thread

Joe wrote:Is know you wrote soft plastics can cause cancer. What about it's relationship to mental illness? I read it is an endocrine disruptor. Thanks.

Phthalates are mainly added to plastics to increase their flexibility (in soft plastics).
Most people have metabolites of multiple phthalates in their urine.
In our diet, particularly packaged fatty foods such as milk, butter, and meats are a major source.
Another source are body care products.
In rat studies high doses have been shown to change hormone levels and cause birth defects.
I dont know about any relationship to mental illness.

martianwarrior · Post by **martianwarrior** » Fri 29 Jan 2010 15:50

In our diet, particularly packaged fatty foods such as milk, butter, and meats are a major source.

does that include vacuum sealed meats? do they contain the estrogen mimicking chemicals? kind of a paradox if they do; keep harmful substances out, let the meat suck up the chemicals in the plastic!

snowbunny · Post by **snowbunny** » Fri 29 Jan 2010 20:44

What are your thoughts on the harmfulness of plastics in general? I have begun to question the safety of my daughter's toys and other baby products which are made of plastics. In the back of my mind, I am wondering if the toys and products are toxic. All of her eating utensils and teething toys are supposed to be BPA free: I do serve and store her food in glassware, but the feeding spoons are plastic, the so-called BPA-free variety. But, the other plastic items, which do find their way into her mouth, are not BPA free.

YouTube · Post by **RRM** » Sat 30 Jan 2010 19:33

martianwarrior wrote:
In our diet, particularly packaged fatty foods such as milk, butter, and meats are a major source.
does that include vacuum sealed meats?

Unless these are special plastics, yes...

Check the regulations for your country.

kind of a paradox if they do; keep harmful substances out, let the meat suck up the chemicals in the plastic!

Indeed.
But who said that we are a smart specie?

snowbunny wrote:I have begun to question the safety of my daughter's toys and other baby products which are made of plastics.

There are regulations for that.
Particularly in the US.