The Poison In Plastic

[ephilution]

The poison in plastic

Plastic... Heralded as the modern miracle material and now used lavishly in just about every manufacturing industry, plastic has found its way into just about every part of our life. We are told by scientists and goverment officials that it's completely safe and harmless, whether it's user to wrap out food with, or used to repair parts of our bodies. Just look around your home or workplace and spot something that has NOT got plastic material in it, difficult ...eh?. Carpet, clothes, dentures, funiture, paint, cars, food wrappings, well, the list would fill this page and beyond. We all know how prolific, cheap and "popular" plastic is, but how "safe" is it? Just consider this for a moment; If a group of reputed scientists suddenly descovered that plastic was dangerous to our health, do you really think we would ever know about it? I mean, would we really recall and destroy 90% of the world's industrial production because it was potentially dangerous to health or the environment? Of course not, you may as well invent a car that can run on water!.

So, what's the big deal? Plastic is here to stay and that's a fact. However, to answer the important question, not all plastic is safe and some of that plastic is used to make things for those closest to our hearts, that's right ... toys for our children! How could they do that? As usual big political and financial factors lean heavily on those who would stand up and shout about it, so it all gets fudged with glossy tape. In fact there are several unsafe practices concerning plastic. Food wrapping is one, bottled water and carpet manufacture ... but hold on, this is another long list, we need to be focussed here or we would close down the whole petrochemical industry!

Fact: not all plastic is safe. Fact: some of that plastic is used to manufacture popular products for babies and children. The big concern is PVC or poly vinylchloride, sometimes called vinyl. Here's why: PVC is a hard material. That's fine for rigid, robust items, but what if you want a softer material? It was descovered that a group of chemicals called Phthalates make PVC into a soft pliable material. Phthalates look like vegetable oil. They have little or no smell, but when added to plastics like PVC they act as a lubricant between the long vinyl molecules, permitting them to slip and slide against one another.This is what makes plastic soft and pliable, flexible and durable. About 80 percent of all the phthalates manufactured are used as"plasticizers." and are incorporated into products that we use every day. Phthalates are used throughout the plastics industry, from construction to toy-making to medical care, baby teethers, soothers, feeding bottles, etc. flexible vinyl has helped make products that are more durable, cleaner, clearer, and economical. Not all phthalates are used as plasticizers for PVC. Different phthalates keep nail polish from chipping, make perfume linger longer, or make tool handles strong and more resistant to breaking. Others help adhesives, caulking, paint pigments and many other materials perform their jobs better.

The commercial scientific world would have you believe that phthalates are completly safe, tha phthalates do not persist in the environment; they biodegrade readily. If they make their way into the body, they do not accumulate in animals or humans. Once inside the body, they break down quickly and are excreted. Most important, in their long history of beneficial service to consumers, there has never been any scientifically validated evidence that they have ever caused anyone any harm. Sounds a familiar story doesn't it? Remember Thalidamide? BSE, CJD, ? Another list could go on ...

Plastics seem like a pretty good material don't they? Not quite. As with many many marvelous magical tricks, there's usually a devious "slight of hand" in the background that we don't see. Let's have a closer look at the properties of phthalates and in particular how they affect living organisms.

The plasticiser most commonly used in flexible vinyl products is DINP, diisononyl phthalate, and here's the "slight of hand" that the big plastics manufacturers don't want you to see ... Studies have shown that rats and mice fed very high doses of DINP developed liver and/or kidney tumors after exposure over a lifetime. Concerns have been expressed about the leaching effect of DINP in soft pastic products and the possible developmental effects as well as chronic liver and kidney toxicity. Plasticisers are not bound to the plastic and can leach out over time; for instance plasticisers in vinyl flooring, will evaporate into the room. Another common plasticiser, the phthalate DEHP, is a suspected carcinogen. These effects have been associated only with very high doses in laboratory studies and the reports tell us the results are not relevant to humans. Nevertheless, a number of groups have aggressively lobbied governments in the United States, Canada, Japan and Europe to have DINP banned from toys. Recently many governments across the world have banned soft vinyl baby toys and teethers because of the hazards of plasticizers leaking into their infants' mouths when sucked or chewed. This is a significant response against a large commercial market. Certain responsible goverments must know there is enough risk from these chemicals to warrant the ban. Now look around your home and see what your child has access to; teethers, soothers, drinking cups, soft toys. Are you happy to let them go on chewing and sucking on them?

Of all the plastics, PVC plastic or vinyl is the most environmentally damaging. Throughout its lifecycle it requires hazardous chemicals in production that release harmful additives and creates toxic wastes. If burned, either in open fires, landfills, or incinerators, PVC will release an acidic gas along with dioxins - because of its chlorine content. PVC is a major source of dioxins globally. If PVC is disposed of in landfills, it eventually releases additives which can then threaten groundwater supplies and the surrounding biocycle. Dioxins are now present throughout the environment and the food chain; everyone is exposed to them in their diets, particularly through fatty foods such as dairy, meat, fish and eggs. TCDD, the most lethal form of the dioxin family is a known human carcinogen and hormone disrupter and is recognized as the most toxic synthetic compound ever produced. All humans and animals now carry body burdens of TCDD and other dioxins.

So, even if you decide to burn or throw away your plastic, just think, eventually it may come back to you and your children, just as poisonous, but this time in the food they eat and the air they breath!

Plastic: Its oily roots ...

Crude oil is more than a base for petrol and fuel. Industrial Fractionation is a process for splitting oil into several constituents chemicals that are later used for a vast range of other materials and ... yes, you got it, plastics is one of them. Ok, so oil is a natural product, extracted from the ground. Yes, but plastic is a heavily processed material and the most synthetic of all man made products. The oil industry is dominated by wealthy institutes of power and greed that are sustained by an insatiable appitite for more and more production. If oil was the blood of this planet, then our desire for fuel and fractionation products are literally bleeding it dry. And like any living creature, the supply is limited and will eventually run out. What has that got to do with our children? Do we really need to ask that? What are we preparing for their future then? What legacy of greed and pollution will we leave for our children and their generations? What kind of environmental and health hazzards will we bequeth to them?

Bigger, better, faster, brighter ...

Let's look at a trypical plastic toy. We have already said that the majority of soft brightly coloured toys are full of toxic chemicals, that buying them helps to support greedy enterprises and that disposing of them is an environmental hazzard and a risk to future health. If that's not enough to change your mind, just think about the psychological effect these lumps of synthetic pollutants can have on your child. Most plastic toys are commercially marketed by profit driven comapnies. The problem is that you child's development is NOT the priority to a toy manufacturer. Here is another slight of hand that seems like magic. When is a toy better than another toy? Answer ... when it's two toys, or three, or convertible from one to another! We have all seen it, The book that talks, the soft dog that holds pencils in its tummy, the shoes that flash colours when you walk. Plastics and electronics industries have conspired in a marketing war of perverse ingenuity to tempt and seduce you and your child into a vast array of devices that are better, faster, brighter, bigger and more versatile than than their competitors. Don't like the colour ... change it with a switch, bored with Noddy, change it to Batman. You know the story and any high street toy shop will make it obvious.

What's all this about then?

Child psychologists know the importance of "permanance" for healthy child development. That means "consistency" which all translates to "lots of change is a bad thing" There are some worrying reports from sociological researchers that indicate the level of childrens concentration levels are dropping. That abilities to focus and attention span is decreasing and that attention deficit is rising steadily. Sure there are many other factors contributing to this worrying trend in our children, such as chemicals in food and cultural influences. But think about this; Plastic electronic toys that stimulate with bright colours, transform to various play objects and churn out inane americanised phrases can hardly be expected to develop focus and attention. The fact is they are not desiged to do so. Behind the claims of "highly educational and interactive learning aids " lies the real purpose, which is to exploit the childs insatiable curiosity for experience and entertainment. Bigger, better, faster, brighter ... Speak and spell toys will not teach your child to speak, read or spell any better or any sooner! The doll that talks, walks and wets it's pants won't help develop your childs social skills or emotional bonding. It's a con. It is also an excuse for parents to spend less time with their children because giving their child a piece of plastic electronic wizardy can do so much of the repetitive work instead of them! Shame on us ... what is happening to our children and their childhood? Where have the simple pleasures of play gone? What place is there for imagination, invention and creative development amongst all this confusion of colour noise and transience?

A better way?

This is the part I've been looking forward to! The alternative to plastic and electronic toys is simple and obvious it's staring us in the face. In fact it may even be lurking discarded in your store room. How often have your children gleefully opened a christmas or birthday present, only to look at it once and play with the box it came in for the rest of the day? You see, children need a challenge, they want to create their own world in their imagination. They need raw materials, not ready made gizmos. That cardboard box will always be a delight to a child, because it can become so many things through creative play. It can be a car, a boat, a space ship, or just a private place to hide away and be. This personal contribution from their imagination is more important to child development than messing with a device that entertains and educates. Why? Because they become actively enguaged in their own creative play, they outwork all their own thoughts and experimental ideas, they create the characters, with joys and fears and wants that are part of their understanding of the world right now. Their mind is alive, active and creative, quite naturally and spontaneously. Psychologists call this "free flow" and recognise that this is the most valuable type of thought patterning at any time in a persons life. Many business and sports people spend time and money tring to recapture this "Free flow" after perhaps years of regimented conditioning and passive learning.

Ok, and that's just a cardboard box. Of course the box is a symbol of a natural play object in this example. Children also love the beauty and tactile experience of natural wooden toys. Wood has a calming living energy that children can feel and respond to. Metal and stone also possess a timeless essence that children love and enjoy. The old saucepan with a lid, pebbles from the beach or garden, pieces of wood that are angular, regular, rough and smooth provide a wealthof imaginative and creative potential for the young child. If you try this out with your child, you will be amazed how effective it is and how absorbed they become. They will probably love the play value and benefit from all the psychological and development benefits, but it may be YOU that feels guilty for giving them " a pile of rubbish" to play with! Now that's the other part of the marketing con that we have been seduced with... that we must provide toys that are clean, bright, shiny, new, educational and entertaining.

It's always interesting that when science marketing and politics plot together, they can make make any result work in their favour. WE the consumer are fed with the magic bullets of denial, reassurance promises and hopes with the expectation that we will shut up and put up with whatever we are told. Well, Ive seen the "slight of hand" and I resent supporting heartless chemical manufacturers, I resent buying product that carry poisons for me, my children and the environment, I resent supporting unscrupilous marketeers who exploit a childs inquisitive mind rather than develop its imaginative potential. Plastic electronics is all of these things, it's a wolf in sheeps clothing and I've seen behind the mask! Plastic is not the marvelous material we were promised, it's a shabby substitute for what nature has given us. The evidence is out, the alternative is available, the choice is yours!

[Easy Skanking]

I've got a better solution to it. Everything that can be made from petroleum oil can be made with Hemp Oil.
An environment and human friendly way to stick it to the Oil Men.

[subgenius]

great post i will follow it up with specific info on the recycling symbols on stuff and whats sort of ok and whats not...gimme a bit to dig it up

[Phil999]

in the end of the 90's a woman who was teaching at the ETH in Zürich told me that there are substances in almost every plastic material that were similar in molecular structure to hormones, and therefore interfere with human bodies. She told me that inofficially, she said that some know it, but are not allowed to tell it.

Years later, I think it was in 2005, the EU made a new law. It became forbidden to use those hormone-like artificial substances in toys for small children.

[bando]

Right on great post and very informative. If I have have children(no plans to, as the world is already supposedly overpopulated), I'll have something to keep in mind.

[lovelyk]

The New Order of the Barbarians
http://www.sweetliberty.org/nobarbarians1.htm

... We will outgrow our food supply and we will over-pollute the world with our waste.

... Chemicals in food and in the water supply to reduce the sex drive is not practical. The strategy then would be not to diminish sex activity, but to increase sex activity, but in such a way that people won't be having babies.

... The convenience foods would be part of the hazards. Anybody who was lazy enough to want the convenience foods rather than fixing his own also had better be energetic enough to exercise. Because if he was too lazy to exercise and too lazy to fix his own food, then he didn't deserve to live very long

[subgenius]

Hey I found it. This is a direct link to a <span style="color:#FF0000">PDF called <span style="color:#3366FF">Smart Plastics Guide. Gives some basics about plastic usages in regards to food, if on the odd chance you happen to bother looking before you nukrowave or reheat some stuff. I am sure there's more crazy info out there but at least this is a start and can be spread around at work to get people thinking a little more. By the way i did try to go through my entire place and reduce everything that had plastic and replace or rid myself of it wherever practical. Do a quick scan it will suprise you when you see how much is in your everyday surroundings... SMART PLASTICS GUIDE labels,etc

this came from IATP.ORG

[ephilution]

Quote:Hey I found it. This is a direct link to a <span style="color:#FF0000">PDF called <span style="color:#3366FF">Smart Plastics Guide. Gives some basics about plastic usages in regards to food, if on the odd chance you happen to bother looking before you nukrowave or reheat some stuff. I am sure there's more crazy info out there but at least this is a start and can be spread around at work to get people thinking a little more. By the way i did try to go through my entire place and reduce everything that had plastic and replace or rid myself of it wherever practical. Do a quick scan it will suprise you when you see how much is in your everyday surroundings... SMART PLASTICS GUIDE labels,etc

this came from IATP.ORG

Cheers for the plastics guide mate, I'll print it out when I have a new ink cartridge. Nukrowave.... sad but true.