Attack of the Plastic?

I heard a news story the other day about the dangers of chemicals coming from plastic containers. It all seemed a bit tricky for the average person to keep up with until these came to light.

On the Today Show, Dr. Nancy shared some insight.

This document (Adobe Acrobat Reader needed) comes from the website she notes at the end. As usual the businesses and the environmentalists have very different views on this, but they would both say this is about green.

An environmental green perspective from 2006.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) perspective from 2007. Adobe Acrobat Reader needed.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) group perspective from 2008.

Where does all this lead the unsorted thinker?

It's not as complex as you may suspect. Clearly, some of this stuff gets into our bodies-see CDC report. The challenge is how much can we control and what difference will it make in the long run. To me, if I were a senior citizen, I'd expect to die of something else before this might be discovered to be more problematic, so no real worries.

As a parent, this could mean something significant for children who have a long life expectancy in front of them. It seems easy enough to steer clear of certain bottles that have a higher likelihood of causing concerns. Keep an eye on those recycling numbers (resin ID codes-Adobe Acrobat Reader needed) on the bottles. Skip the controversial ones. If you are truly concerned, note that BPA is also used to line tin food cans. Are you willing to give up the canned goods?

If you are in the middle ages (neither child nor senior citizen ;-0) then you have some decisions to make. From the CDC piece, BPA seems to have some kind of estrogen effect. I'm not a medical professional, but it is easy enough to say protect the women and girls. I think there are enough reusable plastic bottles around to not use the questionable ones. It's too much effort to have guys plastics and girls plastics, so I'll put aside the questionable bottles. For the single guys, it probably doesn't matter much. If you might get married or become that baby-daddy, then setting these bottles aside makes you appear more aware of current events and health issues. These things might move you a little farther up the scale for the ladies that care about such things.

Note: need future blog entry about things that take on a life of their own being used in ways totally unlike their original design. Example resin ID codes mentioned above. They are there for recycling assistance.

WWPD - What would Plastic Man do? Hmmm...

If you need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available for free. Just click this link.