We Are Not Crazy – Plastic Is a Problem!

photo by Johan Elisson.

Why these opinions are not posted as comments I don’t know, but this week I received two emails disagreeing with my post on Sigg water bottles. I actually was writing about the way Sigg handled the revelation that Sigg bottles had contained BPA, not saying the bottles themselves were dangerous. As I pointed out in the post, I use them and continue to use them. One of the emails took me to task for other posts, like the ones I have written about Teflon in frying pans. I am thinking of putting a notice on my Contact page that says if I think an email is relevant to a post, I will copy and post it as a comment, leaving out the emailer’s name or other identifying information. Too many emails that I get are never seen by anyone else. Often these emails are well thought out and contain opinions that would add valuable content to this site. The way things work now, I am left to write about some of these emails rather than posting them for all to see. One possible drawback to this plan is that if people know that I might post their email as a comment, they may decide not to send the email. In that case I don’t get to see their feedback at all.

To address those that think people like me are relatives of Chicken Little saying the sky is falling, I say wake up and smell the roses, plastics. Whether it is that new car smell, Teflon on your cookware, BPA in your baby bottles or formula, plastic in your water bottles, or any number of other exposures to these endocrine disrupting chemicals, research is showing there are indeed dangers to be concerned about. Recent studies even show that some of these chemicals are more damaging in trace amounts then they are in large amounts. That old saying that “the poison is in the dose” is proving to not always be correct.  In addition, some of the effects these chemical have on animals are being shown to pass on to offspring and future generations.  Just this past Saturday, I wrote a short post about how the effects of pesticides on rats can last generations, even adversely affecting rats who themselves had no direct exposure to the pesticides.

So we are smart to be concerned.  Some of us may choose to take steps like not using Teflon coated cookware or we may choose to eat only organic vegetables whenever possible.  Other people may not alter their habits at all.  But the fact remains that the detrimental effects of all these chemicals on humans are real.  Any time we can prompt a manufacturer to remove a dangerous chemical from one of their products, we should do so.  Even if they could show that no leaching occurs, Sigg took the right step by eliminating BPA from their bottles.  They may have messed up a bit on the public relations end of the situation, but the bottles are now BPA free and that is a win for consumers.  Now the problem is that I still have nagging concerns about any number of other chemicals in plastic.  It may not be easy to know what to do but the more knowledge we have about our exposure to man-made chemicals, the more informed our decisions can be.