Poisonous Plastics

Jeff Nicholson

Bryan Walsh writing in Time Magazine, April 12 2010 addressing the perils faced by society from the use of everyday objects said, “Chemicals in plastics and other products seem harmless, but mounting evidence links them to health problems” and governments seem helpless to protect us. The issue is not that multinational conglomerates are irresponsibly dumping poisons into the environment but that everyday things that we use, like unbreakable baby bottles and big screen TVs, are themselves bathing us in a sea of harmful chemicals. These chemicals have a habit of leaching out of everyday objects and not just into the environment but ultimately into living organisms. One commentator said it is not the environment that is being contaminated but “It’s us.”

Scientists are discovering that even tiny amounts of these chemicals can have a devastating effect upon our personal health and upon our children’s future, by disrupting the workings of the body’s delicate hormonal system. Two of the main culprits are bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, important ingredients in the production of modern plastics- which appears to disrupt the body’s delicate endocrine system leading to various developmental problems. “A host of modern ills that have been rising unchecked for a generation- obesity, diabetes, autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder- could have chemical connections,” he said. It is becoming more apparent that children are uniquely susceptible to environmental hazards.

BPA is a synthetic oestrogen ( the female sex hormone) and plastic products with this chemical can break down easily, especially when they are washed, heated or stressed, allowing the chemical to leech out into food and water and then enter the body. Mice dosed with BPA developed serious reproductive problems, including defective eggs, the effect of one dose affecting three generations. Phthalates a group of chemicals used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics found in products from shower curtains, to cosmetics, to intravenous fluid bags- have been shown to disrupt hormones in animals and lead to reduced sperm counts and other marks of feminisation in male rodents.

Where do we go from here? It appears that plastics which are manmade products are having a seriously deleterious effect on long term public health. Many countries have banned the use of BPA in infant baby bottles but not the EEC. Foods packaged in plastic containers and the heating up of food in plastics have been highlighted as areas of concern. A recent study by Swan has shown that women who had higher levels of phthalate exposure during pregnancy were more likely to have children with behavioural problems. Information like this is indeed very worrisome. For the good of all, governments must take the necessary steps to remove known harmful chemicals from the environment.

Society has moved away from living close to nature and from using products originating in the natural environment to a situation of virtual aseptic sterility and artificiality. We daily interact with materials that are not derived from nature but originating in the chemical laboratories of multinational corporations. As a consequence the delicate human machinery is constantly being barraged by manmade chemicals that interfere with the human biological system and alters the chemical balance of the brain and also resulting in genetic, mental and neurological damage, especially in the young and vulnerable. This situation brings to mind the Apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 8:21-23 (NIV) where he describes the natural world as being; “subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

Christians are not exempt from the dangers of the world in which they live- physical degeneracy, sickness, accidents and death- with nature being out of balance with God’s original design. What gives purpose to this state of affairs is the awareness that this world is not our home and that we are strangers and pilgrims on a journey to a better city. As a consequence, whatever life throws at us  our primary focus must be on character development and the spiritual preparation necessary for citizenship in the world to come.