New studies show evidence of the dangers to health of chemicals in food

It’s a clear memory. Plastic was becoming widely used in packaging for food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t say it was safe. It said as far as it knew, plastic packaging wasn’t harmful to health.

I figured out myself right away that it wasn’t a good idea to heat plastic in a microwave oven. Now, that’s widely recommended.

I also remember clearly when the Bottle Bill, which required a deposit on soda bottles, was killed in Washington state. It should have continued and expanded to many types of plastic to avoid the tremendous amounts of plastic waste that’s clogging our streams, rivers, and lakes and the ocean.

Harmful chemicals leach into food

Now, what’s making headlines this week is a new study, which found more than 3,600 chemicals that leach into food during the manufacturing, processing, packaging, and storage of the world’s food supply end up in the human body – and some are connected to serious health harms. The study was published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

The research revealed which chemicals used in food packaging and other food contact articles have been found in human samples, such as urine, blood, and breast milk. They include bisphenols, PFAS, phthalates, metals, and volatile organic compounds. Many of these chemicals have hazard properties of concern and have been linked to harming human health. 

“Our research helps to establish the link between food contact chemicals and human exposure, highlights chemicals that are overlooked in biomonitoring studies and supports research into safer food contact materials,” lead author Birgit Geueke said in a statement. 

The research is part of the Food Contact Chemicals and Human Health project of the Food Packing Forum, a research organization focusing on food packaging. 

Tiny plastic particles that enter the body cause health issues

Another study shows that adults may ingest up to 150,000 harmful plastic particles a year – equal to eating as many as 12 shopping bags annually, according to a new Environmental Working Group analysis.

There is growing concern about the various ways that large amounts of tiny plastic particles enter the human body and the potential health risks they pose. Some studies found a link between exposure to plastic particles and an increased risk of a stroke or heart attack. These particles have also been associated with inflammation, uncontrolled cell growth, immune system disruption, and other health issues.

“Imagine eating as much plastic as a shopping bag every month in your meals – that’s essentially what we could be doing without realizing it,” Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., co-author and a senior scientist at EWG, said in a statement. “Our analysis shows that adults likely consume an alarming amount of plastic particles, with serious potential health consequences. The plastics we’re swallowing pose an urgent public health risk that demands immediate attention.”

These findings focus on plastic exposure through diet, with plastic cutting boards as a significant source. However, people can also ingest plastic particles through drinking water, beverages, honey, meat, seafood, and vegetables, as well as from using plastic cups and takeout containers.

Crops can absorb micro and nanoplastics from contaminated soil and water, while seafood is continuously exposed to floating plastic particles that can bioaccumulate and cling to tissue. 

Plastic packaging also plays a major role, continuously exposing foods to tiny particles during transport, storage, and as they sit on kitchen shelves for days. Even after being removed from packaging, food can be exposed to other plastic materials in the kitchen. 

The EWG’s report provides tips for reducing exposure from well-known sources, such as reducing the use of plastic containers for food storage and reheating, using stainless steel water bottles, and replacing plastic cutting boards and plastic kitchen utensils with alternatives. 

For lasting change, efforts must focus on larger systemic solutions, Stoiber said. This includes requiring companies and governments to eliminate single-use plastic, minimize the use of plastic where possible, and prevent plastic waste from polluting the environment. 

“Companies won’t rethink their relationship with plastics overnight, so individuals can take shorter-term, manageable steps to reduce some of their plastic exposures,” she said. “These actions can help until we achieve much broader systemic change.”

Plastic particles in the brain increasing

In another study, researchers collected brain samples from autopsies and examined them for plastic particles.  

Their pre-print study reported plastic in human brains at a concentration of 4,800 micrograms per gram. While that’s a small amount, the study indicates that brains may be only 99.5 percent brain and 0.5 percent plastic by weight. 

The researchers found 50 percent more plastic in the brain than they did in a previous study eight years ago.

Tiny “nanoplastic,” or particles so tiny they can’t be seen, may be hitching a ride into brains by attaching themselves to the fats people eat.

Twelve of the brain samples from the recent study were from patients who died with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Those brains had 10 times more plastic by weight than the healthy samples.

Regulatory actions on chemicals in food lacking

The studies are likely to increase the calls for the FDA to increase their regulatory action on food safety.

The FDA has been widely criticized for its lack of regulation on chemicals in food. And the agency itself says it doesn't have the regulatory authority it needs.

For the first time, the FDA will hold a public hearing on for Sept. 25 on enhancing its assessment of chemicals found in food, including food and color additives, food contact substances, potential contaminants and pesticides, and ingredients considered generally recognized as safe or GRAS.

The food industry has exploited the GRAS exemption, originally meant for items such as baking soda, sugar, and vinegar, to escape review of what it’s adding to food.

Comments

[Meryl]

We know chemicals kill and are in almost everything we use and eat. It is so hard to get legislative action to stop using them when they are 'invisible'. Out of sight - out of mind. And it is not easy to draw a direct line from the chemicals to the damage they cause.

[Laurie Stone]

That's why I try and eat the least processed foods possible. Still, it's hard to avoid any chemicals in our diet. Modern living, unfortunately..

[Rita]

Eating the least processed food as possible, storing food in glass containers, and getting rid of any plastic cutting boards are ways to reduce plastic leaching into food. And yes, Congress and state governments need to do more on this issue. The FDA has been lax on regulating chemicals in food for decades.

[azure]

About which we can do what? The oil & gas industry is able to effectively "buy" the support & protection of a majority of Congress, presidential 'advisors', whoever heads the USDA, EPA, etc (or play a dominant role in choice of who heads those agencies). Without campaighn finance reform, US will continue to experience gov't by corporations.

There is far too little space and support for community gardens for most people (particularly those who live in apartment complexes) to grow much of their own food, even if they have the time, energy & interest in doing so. There are not that many farmers markets with affordable produce, certainly not as many as there are "food deserts" in the US." Where I used to live in NY, there is plenty of space in many home lots for gardening, but homeowners/tenants spend their money on "landscapers" who mow & use herbicides. Where I live now, in supposedly "green" OR, only a few people garden or grow veg, fruit, even though a native plant, coast strawberry, grows easily & produces a small & tasty strawberry, if you can beat the slugs to the berries. A native speices & bee plant (Oregon extension service also lists it as a good "fire" plant --or doesn't burn easily), salal, produces an edible berry, but where I live, people & the town treat it as a unwanted plant.
So most people just have grass & concrete so they have space to park their motorcycles, RVs, trailers, power boat, or BIG pickup--growing some of their own veg & fruit doesn't seem to be perceived as desireable or a possible use of what free time/money they may have or something they want their children to learn how to do. At one time, one of the elementary schools had a small greenhoouse & raised beds where some of the students grew some veg that was included in the school lunches. I think that program might've existed mostly because of the interest & work of at least one of the teachers & possibly a few Master Gardeners & may no longer exist.