|
An April 17 news story in the Washington Post does a great job of presenting many of the important issuesassociated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)regulation of chemicals that leach into food from plasticpackaging. Reporter Susan Freinkel immediately captures interest as sherecounts a 2011 study of people's exposures to plastics from foodpackaging and later highlights a soon-to-be-released studysurveying food products for phthalate content. In between shecovers the central issues of low dose toxicity, regulatoryprocesses, chemical testing and the complications associated withlong-term exposure to multiple chemicals. Chemicals will enter our food supply, and the FDA regulates what itconsiders acceptable amounts of these indirect food additives.Phthalates, styrene, nonylphenol and bisphenol A (BPA) are some ofthe chemicals that enter food through manufacturing or packaging.More than 3,000 chemicals are currently acceptable in food as longas the concentration is small – less than 0.5 parts perbillion. However, as Freinkel points out, the FDA's evaluation isout-of-date and does not consider real-world exposures to them.Traditional regulatory tests measure health effects at high dosesin mature animals and assume no effects at low doses. Research shows exposure to even low doses of these chemicals can beroutine and cumulative. People are typically exposed to more thanone chemical at a time, yet the FDA has not assessed the effects ofexposure to multiple chemicals simultaneously. Together, cumulativeexposure and multiple chemical exposures, if acting in a similarmanner in the same tissue, can create additive or synergisticeffects – effects that can be enhanced and create greaterreactions than either chemical acting alone. Importantly, the FDA rarely re-visits the safety of a chemical onceit has been ruled upon. This means the last 30 years of research onsome of these chemicals is not considered in regard to their safetyand regulation. Freinkel does a good job describing a tough topic. She keeps thecomplicated accessible when pointing out the major issues ofregulating plastic chemicals in food. It would have benefitedreaders if she had offered a few more details on the science of howthese chemicals work at low doses to produce adverse health effectsassociated with environmental exposures. As an example, a recent review , not mentioned by Freinkel, tackles this science and furtherexplains why chemical exposure at young ages can be even moredetrimental and produce long-lasting effects in adulthood. The above work by Environmental Health News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 UnportedLicense . Based on a work at . I am an expert from stainless-steelsheets.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Stainless Steel Angle Brackets Manufacturer , China Cold Rolled Steel Coils, Hot Rolled Steel Plate,and more.
Related Articles -
Stainless Steel Angle Brackets Manufacturer, China Cold Rolled Steel Coils,
|
