This is shameful of DOW and shows that corporate greed prevails over concern for public safety hands down every time.
I think the most upsetting part is that this plastic has been used in the spill-proof toddler's cups for HOW LONG and they knew it could be harmful??? How about all the plastic food trays that Americans heat up in microwave ovens every single day??
I abandoned as much plastic as I could in my kitchen and switched to glass. If I buy frozen food I remove it from the plastic dish and put it into a glass dish and cook in the convection oven. I store nothing, cook nothing in plastic. However, I still use plastic water bottles so I probably need to find alternatives for those as well. I no longer use my microwave oven and I think the combination of microwaving and this deadly plastic are a HUGE factor in the drastic INCREASE in prostate and breast cancers in the industrialized world.
But guess where I found I may be exposing myself to this chemical without realizing it? My BRITA water jug. DOH! It is a very hard clear plastic jub but there is no recycle symbol. I did a search and found that it does indeed contain this chemical. Guess I'll be throwing THAT out now.
Excerpt:
University of Missouri, Colombia biological sciences professor Fred vom Saal is determined to show that plastics corporations are just as dangerous as tobacco companies, and reports that one major chemical company tried to persuade him to hold off on publishing his research to that effect.
The primary focus of vom Saal's research is bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that is found in polycarbonate plastics, which are used in steel food can linings, Lexan items, Nalgene bottles, baby bottles, spill-proof toddler's cups, plastic wrap, microwave-safe plastic dishware, and food containers. He says the chemical mimics powerful sex hormones and even small doses can cause brain damage, abnormal organ development, and hyperactivity. Vom Saal noted that many -- but not all -- products that have a 7 inside the recycling triangle symbol contain BPA, which he said is one of the biggest chemicals in production worldwide, with more than 6 billion pounds created and used annually.
Here is some more info on the harmful effects of BPA:
Suspicion Lingers Over BPA and Breast Cancer
Bisphenol A, a common industrial chemical claimed to speed the growth of human breast and ovarian cancers, retains its carcinogenic properties even after being modified by body processes, report Indiana University and University of California at Berkeley scientists in the Aug. 28th issue of Chemistry & Biology, a Cell Press journal.
"If our hypothesis is true about BPA, it's probably going to be the sum of effects of a lot of cancer-causing compounds that is responsible for the disease," Widlanski said. "We would not anticipate that BPA or any other single chemical is the only culprit here."
Plastics chemical BPA may Promote Breast Cancer
New research appearing in the journal Chemistry & Biology has shown that a chemical found in harder plastics -- such as those used to make water cooler jugs and CD cases -- may promote breast cancer.
Researchers from Indiana University studied how bisphenol-A (BPA) may be more easily absorbed by breast tumor cells than healthy cells. Experts have long assumed that since healthy cells do not readily absorb bisphenol sulfate -- one of the body's metabolized forms of BPA -- BPA is a harmless chemical. However, the Indiana researchers found that breast tumor cells, which vastly differ from normal, healthy cells, convert bisphenol sulfate back into BPA, which can be easily taken up into tumor cells.
Adams warns consumers to avoid heating food in plastic containers and to use glass, Pyrex or other non-plastic food containers whenever possible. He also urges consumers to read The Hundred-Year Lie to get the full story about the dangers of chemicals in foods, beverages, drugs and common kitchen items like storage containers.
Chemical used in food containers disrupts brain development
The chemical bisphenol A (BPA), widely used in products such as food cans, milk container linings, water pipes and even dental sealants, has now been found to disrupt important effects of estrogen in the developing brain.
A University of Cincinnati (UC) research team, headed by Scott Belcher, PhD, reports in two articles in the December 2005 edition of the journal Endocrinology that BPA shows negative effects in brain tissue "at surprisingly low doses."
Long known to act as an artificial estrogen, the primary hormone involved in female sexual development, BPA has already been shown to increase breast cancer cell growth, and in the January 2005 edition of the journal Cancer Research, another UC research team reported that it increased the growth of some prostate cancer cells as well. Warnings about other possible long-term health risks associated with fetal exposures to BPA have also been discussed in recent scientific literature.
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I found this great link on dangerous and safer plastics.
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