Which Plastics Are Safe?

The news about plastics has been pretty alarming lately, causing some of us to go dashing for the water bottles to see what kind of plastic they are—and find out if we’ve been unwittingly poisoning our children and ourselves with chemicals leaching into the water from them.

If you’ve been concerned, here is a handy chart that identifies the good, bad, and OK plastics and where they are found. Find out here:

1 Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
Used to make soft drink, water, sports drink, ketchup, and salad dressing bottles, and peanut butter, pickle, jelly and jam jars.
GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

2 High density polyethylene (HDPE)
Milk, water, and juice bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners, and grocery, trash, and retail bags.
GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones.

3 Polyvinyl chloride (V or PVC)
Most cling-wrapped meats, cheeses, and other foods sold in delicatessens and groceries are wrapped in PVC.
BAD: To soften into its flexible form, manufacturers add “plasticizers” during production. Traces of these chemicals can leach out of PVC when in contact with foods. According to the National Institutes of Health, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), commonly found in PVC, is a suspected human carcinogen.

4 Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Some bread and frozen food bags and squeezable bottles.
OK: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones, but not as widely recycled as #1 or #2.

5 Polypropylene (PP)
Some ketchup bottles and yogurt and margarine tubs.
OK: Hazardous during production, but not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones. Not as widely recycled as #1 and #2.

6 Polystyrene (PS)
Foam insulation and also for hard applications (e.g. cups, some toys)
BAD: Benzene (material used in production) is a known human carcinogen. Butadiene and styrene (the basic building block of the plastic) are suspected carcinogens. Energy intensive and poor recycling.

7 Other (usually polycarbonate)
Baby bottles, microwave ovenware, eating utensils, plastic coating for metal cans
BAD: Made with biphenyl-A, a chemical invented in the 1930s in search for synthetic estrogens. A hormone disruptor. Simulates the action of estrogen when tested in human breast cancer studies. Can leach into food as product ages.

Read more: Home, Health & Safety, plastics

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Frances D.

12:53PM PDT on May 5, 2013

Some comments conflict with the article....I'm confused now

May 5
send a green star

Gabriel R.

4:19AM PDT on Apr 29, 2013

I fully agree but to be honest I doubt any admins are even monitoring comments from the general public on old articles like this one. It's shocking that it's #1 when "plastic health" is typed in Google!

April 29
send a green star

narinee k.

8:14PM PDT on Apr 28, 2013

Is this article just as accurate as it was when it was published 5 years ago? I don't want articles in my email that are years old, unless they're edited showing appropriate updates in reality

can you just remove this phony article from your website? its not truthful at all. at least up date it or something...

April 28
send a green star

6:01AM PDT on Apr 12, 2013

[[[Why don't they research things that might be harmful BEFORE they're put out there for people to buy? Answer: usual thing....greed. Guess Humanity should be given an "F" if it were graded.]]]

Greed plays a large part of it. If profit can be made from anything with no visibly linked negative health effects then profit will be made even if prior research shows that the item in question is NOT healthy. Mass population experiments are the easiest way to determine long term health effects of any product on a large scale. When the truth finally does leak out it's up to us to make the changes in our own lives. The manufacturers will follow our lead. Wherever we go their profit goes too.

April 12
send a green star

12:11PM PDT on Mar 16, 2013

BPA itself is a hormone disruptor but any plastics with softeners added will also most likely leach phthalates which are incredibly toxic as well as benzene which I mentioned earlier. Benzene is hormone disrupting chemical used in the manufacturing of #1 PET plastic. I disclosed some sources in my previous post.

March 16
send a green star

Liam E.

11:39AM PDT on Mar 16, 2013

I agree with Gabriel this articles pathetic

11:35AM PDT on Mar 16, 2013

#1 plastics don't leach any hormone disrupting chemicals that's not true they do leach BPA where are you getting this information from

Natasha S.

3:56AM PDT on Mar 13, 2013

Great info,thanks.

March 13
send a green star

10:38AM PST on Feb 25, 2013

[In continuation from my original comment:]

The general public need to be more aware of what's not good and then they will naturally begin to opt for what is good. Big companies will have no choice but to supply what the majority of people want or they will lose too much money.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2157423/Poisoned-plastic-Chemicals-water-bottles-food-packaging-linked-infertility-birth-defects-Scaremongering-truth.html

Sources:

http://www.glutathionediseasecure.com/safe-plastics.html
http://geosalud.com/Ambiente/benzene.htm
http://www.ecologycenter.org/factsheets/plastichealtheffects.html

February 25
send a green star

5:25AM PST on Feb 20, 2013

This article is truly pathetic. I can't believe that it's the #1 article for the effects of plastic on health when "plastic health" is typed into google! Note how under the first plastic(PET) it states:

"GOOD: Not known to leach any chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer or disrupting hormones."

PET in fact does both of those things!

For a start PET(#1) is known to contain benzene, a highly toxic cancer causing compound that leeches into food and drink and then builds up in the human body. It is known to cause leukaemia, anaemia, damage to reproductive organs causing symptoms such as infertility, menstrual irregularity, and birth defects such as low birth weight due to delayed bone formation and bone marrow damage. Quite obviously it also weakens the immune system allowing for an increased risk of infection to build up in the body.

Polystyrene is truly one of the worst food/drink vessels commonly used. If you though that the effects PET that I just listed were bad I can assure you that you will want to avoid this one at all costs, if not for your own health than for the sake of your children's reproductive systems!

There's some very interesting information in the following article including a few case studies, one of which showed that since plastics became widespread throughout developed countries in the EU after WW2 fertility rates have fallen by around 50% and prostate cancer has soared through the roof.

The general public need to be