Significant disease risk from Tupperware?
No joke. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that exposure to the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is linked to a 40% increased incidence of heart disease, heart attacks, and diabetes among 18-74 year olds. Unfortunately, this substance is ubiquitous in food packaging, and BPA can be detected in the blood of over 90% of Americans. It’s present in microwaveable food containers, some plastic packaging, and the lining of food and soda cans. Note that these findings come from an epidemiological study, and a controlled trial would be preferable for drawing firm conclusions. Nevertheless this seems like a big deal. Get the whole story at the Heart Scan Blog, here.
This study, piled on top of the worrisome literature that precede it, is enough for me: No more tin cans (which are lined with BPA), no more hard plastics labeled with recycling code #7 or #3, no more polycarbonate water bottles (the hard ones, often brightly colored). Microwaveable-safe may also mean human-unsafe, as highlighted by this damning assurance from the Tupperware people that BPA is not a health hazard.
An associated JAMA editorial can be found here. A WaPo article on reducing exposure is here. This news really pisses me off because canned sodas are provided for free at my job, a perk that I’ve been taking advantage of to the tune of four or more cans a day. Mmmmmmmm, Diet coke…
September 25th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Pish tosh.