Asthma and Allergy Center – Greg E. Sharon MD

 

Is Plastic a Health Concern ?

 

Plastic is made from the same oil we use to make gas! Yech!

 

"Research and common sense shows tiny residues of  toxic synthetic chemicals are released from plastic food and beverage containers, baby bottles, dental sealants, and many other products. These plastic-derived chemicals(PCBs) have been shown to mimic female hormones and increase the risk of diabetes and obesity (bisphenol-A)." G. Sharon MD

Examine

A careful assessment of studies on this problem has shown reason for concern. I have looked at both research and lay publications and have reason to be concerned. Food and beverage containers are be made from various types of plastic and plasticizers: Phthalates, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyethylenetherephtalate, ethylene vinyl acetate,  high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene , polyvinyl chloride or vinly), polystyrene, polybutylene, Nalgene, dilaurylthiodipropionate, 3(3,5-di-tert-4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate, and many others. All release small amounts of chemicals and plasticizers into foods and beverages. BPA (bisphenol-A) is just one example.

  1. "People should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than just the container it's coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water. Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates, that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food." Rolf Halden, PhD, PE, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and the Center for Water and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 2007
  2. Exposure to bisphenol-A affects the rewarding system 01-JUN-2005; 25(3): 125-8 " In conclusion, we found here that prenatal and neonatal exposure to BPA can potentiate the central dopaminergic systems, resulting in the supersensitivity of the drugs of abuse-induced rewarding effects. This means that you have a higher risk of becoming an addict if your mother drinks from a plastic bottle.
  3. Exposure to bisphenol A is associated with recurrent miscarriage. - Sugiura-Ogasawara M - Hum Reprod - 01-AUG-2005; 20(8): 2325-9 45 patients with a history of three or more (3-11) consecutive first-trimester miscarriages and 32 healthy women with no history of live birth and infertility.RESULTS: The mean values for bisphenol A in patients were  3 ng/ml, significantly higher than the 0.77 ng/ml found for control women (P=0.024). High exposure to bisphenol A was associated with the presence of with recurrent miscarriage.
  4. Perturbed nuclear receptor signaling by environmental obesogens as emerging factors in the obesity crisis. - Rev Endocr Metab Disord - 01-JUN-2007; 8(2): 161-71 The modern world is plagued with expanding epidemics of diseases related to metabolic dysfunction. The factors that are driving obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and cholesterol (collectively termed metabolic syndrome) are usually ascribed to a mismatch between what we need compared with what we eat and with insufficient exercise. The environmental hypothesis proposes that exposure to a toxic chemical burden is superimposed on these conditions leading to obesity and its associated health consequences. Recent studies have shown a set of candidate obesogens (DES diethylstilbestrol, bisphenol A, phthalates) that target the cells signaling pathways that can alter fat cells growth, leading to long-term obesity.
 

Other information that I found.

  Repeated exposure to BPA causes insulin resistance at the cell level, which leads to type II diabetes. Tissues lose their sensitivity to insulin, causing the pancreas to produce even more insulin, further increasing insulin resistance and diabetes. This leads to a progressive cycle that reinforces itself.

Alonso-Magdalena et al. demonstrate that low-level, chronic exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) induces insulin resistance in adult mice. Their work provides the first experimental link between endocrine disruption and diabetes.

The doses they used in these experiments were within the range of current human exposure, 5000 times below the dose identifed by the US EPA as the lowest level causing effects

Glucagon is released by alpha cells in the pancreas. It provides the major counter-regulatory mechanism for insulin by stimulating the liver to produce glucose and maintaining proper glucose levels in the blood. It also has a crucial role in inducing the breakdown of fat and the release of fatty acids from tissue when blood glucose is low. Glucose is needed by the body to produce energy; when glucose metabolism is impaired, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus may result. Earlier studies found that insulin-releasing beta cells were affected by low concentrations of the EDCs bisphenol A (BPA) and diethylstilbestrol (DES); the present study found a similar impact on glucagon-releasing alpha cells. The study found that the EDCs binds to a nonclassical membrane estrogen receptor and acts the same as naturally occurring estrogens.