11 March 2011 — What we have long suspected – and one of the key reasons we began this company as a precautionary measure – is beginning to be confirmed. Most plastics leach hormone-mimicking chemicals. A study released online by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives on 2 March 2011 is entitled just that: Most Plastic Products Release Estrogenic Chemicals.
The study authors assessed over 450 plastic products from stores like WalMart and Whole Foods to determine whether commercially available plastic resins and products, including baby bottles and other products advertised as bisphenol A-free, release chemicals that mimic the hormone estrogen. The results are stunning: Almost all commercially available plastic products sampled, independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source, leached chemicals having reliably-detectable estrogenic activity, including those advertised as BPA-free — and in some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having even more hormone activity than BPA-containing products!
For a good overview of the study and how it was conducted take a look at this NPR article. More to come on this study and its implications in the coming weeks on our blog.
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