, which has been shown to leach the harmful hormone-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) into food items after repeated uses.)
The vast majority of Tupperware products are considered safe, but some of its food storage containers use polycarbonate (plastic #7), which has been shown to leach the harmful hormone-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) into food items after repeated uses.
Image: Jerrroen, courtesy Flickr
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Dear EarthTalk: I’ve read that plastic bottles are not always safe to reuse over and over as harmful chemicals can leach out into the contents. I’m wondering if the same issues plague Tupperware and other similar plastic food storage containers.
-- Sylvie, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
The recent hubbub over plastic containers leaching chemicals into food and drinks has cast a pall over all kinds of plastics that come into contact with what we ingest, whether deserved or not. Some conscientious consumers are forsaking all plastics entirely out of health concerns. But while it is true that exposure to certain chemicals found in some plastics has been linked to various human health problems (especially certain types of cancer and reproductive disorders), only a small percentage of plastics contain them.
According to The Green Guide, a website and magazine devoted to greener living and owned by the National Geographic Society, the safest plastics for repeated use in storing food are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE, or plastic #2), low-density polyethylene (LDPE, or plastic #4) and polypropylene (PP, or plastic #5). Most Tupperware products are made of LDPE or PP, and as such are considered safe for repeated use storing food items and cycling through the dishwasher. Most food storage products from Glad, Hefty, Ziploc and Saran also pass The Green Guide’s muster for health safety.
But consumers should be aware of more than just a few “safe” brands, as most companies make several product lines featuring different types of plastics. While the vast majority of Tupperware products are considered safe, for example, some of its food storage containers use polycarbonate (plastic #7), which has been shown to leach the harmful hormone-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) into food items after repeated uses. Consumers concerned about such risks might want to avoid the following polycarbonate-based Tupperware products: the Rock ‘N Serve microwave line, the Meals-in-Minutes Microsteamer, the “Elegant” Serving Line, the TupperCare baby bottle, the Pizza Keep’ N Heat container, and the Table Collection (the last three are no longer made but might still be kicking around your kitchen).
Beyond BPA, other chemicals can be found in various food storage containers. Containers made out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE, or plastic #1)—such as most soda bottles—are OK to use once, but can leach carcinogenic, hormone-disrupting phthalates when used over and over again. Also, many deli items come wrapped in plastic made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or plastic #3), which can leach cancer-causing dioxins. Swapping foods out of such wraps once the groceries are at home is advisable.
Containers made of polystyrene (PS, or plastic #6, also known as Styrofoam) can also be dangerous, as its base component, styrene, has been associated with skin, eye and respiratory irritation, depression, fatigue, compromised kidney function, and central nervous system damage. Take-out restaurant orders often come in polystyrene containers, which also should be emptied into safer containers once you get them home.
If your head is spinning and you can’t bear to examine the bottom of yet another plastic food storage container for its recycling number, go with glass. Pyrex, for instance, does not contain chemicals that can leach into food. Of course, such items can break into glass shards if dropped. But most consumers would gladly trade the risk of chemical contamination for the risk of breakage any day.
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10 Comments
Add CommentI don't buy plastic stuff like this, least of all for health reasons. I just can't support an industry which links its profit directly to the amount of garbage its customers produce. Metal and glass are durable, and can be reused in a million ways. ...I can't wait till we run out of cheap petroleum.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI applaud countries like India who use metal containers for everything. On my last trip to India, I brought home metal plates, cups, "glasses", food storage containers. Using them, along with simplifying my food-related habits, is one step in planetary shifting. I feel concerned that India is beginning to adopt Western habits and goals. The most obvious evidence of that is the rising incidence of obesity in India. Each person's choices do make a difference in the quality of life possible on planet Earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, like the computer you just used to enter these comments would even exist without the plastics industry. It is always so funny to hear pseudo-environmentalists rail on about the evils of this or that industry. A whole lot of people who bemoan the horrors of the industrialized world wouldn't live 15 minutes without it. Like it or not, industries like plastics and things like "cheap petroleum" have made this world many times better than it would be without them. What do you suppose has fueled the metal and glass industries? India, yeah, now there is an environmentally friendly nation. India is one of the most pollution ridden regions in the world. Their use of "metal" products isn't by any stretch of imagination out of concern for the environment. Their shift to the oh-so-evil "western" ways is happening because the "western habits and goals" are better and more conducive to that quality of life you are talking about. Sure we all choose our own path. Some choose the path to obesity. Is it really our job to police the eating habits of the world? In the long run, more food available to a traditionally largely starving India is not necessarily a bad thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow Chris, you sure assumed a lot, and went off on a thousand tangents. The computer I used to type this is not tupperware. It is not buying a thousand cheap peices of crap that I'm going to throw in a landfill as soon as I'm done using them. Or, maybe, since it is going to wind up junk, I should jsut throw everything to the wind. Dump my cars oil in your front yard, fill your basement with my companys chemical and biological waste byproducts, since, hey, who cares, I'm not 100% environmentally "green". Have fun arguing politics on an internet forum. Making the world "better" pretty funny... define "better".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhoa, man, don't panic. No dumping of oil or industrial waste required. Jeez-Louise! Ok, so, why oh why would I waste time arguing politics on an internet forum? There are far too many mindless dolts in such an environment. ... teaching pigs to sing... And what, prey tell, has that to do with my comments? If my comments are to be considered "tangents" (I thought they were fairly to the point), I count, well, let's be generous and say four. Plastics, India's environmentally friendly use of metal products, the relative benefits of western ways and the fevered prognostications of self proclaimed environmentalists. Better, my friend, means just exactly that, better. We live longer and have a higher standard of living. Who said anything about buying "a thousand pieces of cheap crap?" You should be, by all means, buying the good crap! Yes, it is all going to wind up as junk and we are all going to end up as compost. But throw it all to the wind? Why would you do that? A little bit of false dichotomy going on here, Either you are "100% environmentally green" or you burn down the world? Seems a little extreme. And speaking tangential topic wandering - going from plastics potentially leaching chemicals into food and water to lamenting the availability of cheap petroleum? Come on, really?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYo, hotblack -- it is a FACT that living leads to death...unlike plastics that might do so. I strongly suggest you do everything within your power to eliminate that threat and jump off a very tall building ASAP.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are obviously ignorant of the goals of the organizations that push this junkscience on the public. They care not about the public safety, but they do care about ther political agenda. The fear alone they cause should make a tort lawyers day.
I dare you -- go one day without touching anything with plastic in it, on it or around it. Just try. After you realize how much plastic there is, you should ask why people are not suffering the ill effects at more visible magnitudes. People would be dropping like flies in front of you.
Oh, an do continue recycling (until your big jump) -- there are loads of high school drop outs that support the green industry. Their minmum wage garbage sorting jobs rely on your use and abuse of plastic, metal and anything not naturally ocurring in the environment.
I know this is an obvious plug, but I have addressed the plastic container issue on my blog in detail. For a thorough look at the issues please visit http://skepticdetective.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/cancer-update/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThank you
Simply consider the enormous swirling masses of plastic where the cross-currents in the Pacific Ocean meet. Two 100 mile in diameter Sargasso Seas of PLASTIC (somewhere I read the mess may be as large as the size of the continental US). That's enough reason, it seems, to change our uses of said material. Of course, another way to view this biohazard (kills lots of sea life) is that mother nature has gathered her children's mess into a pile, and now it's time for us to pick it up!!!!!! Better yet, let's go biodegradable and non-toxic, so there's no mess and no cancers or
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this*&^%ed up hormones. We can, so why not?!?!?!?!
What I find of some significance is that these sort of articles targeting polycarbonates have started appearing in the press after GE sold off its polycarbonate business to a Saudi company about two years ago !
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso using metal containers is not such a great idea particularly the kind of cheap low grade metals produced in India for such purposes. It is worth noting that any acidic foods ( almost everything ! ) would most likely leach out metals into your lunch and that too at relatively high levels ( not ppb levels as in Bisphenol) !
Sorry but the Sargasso Sea is in the Atlantic, not Pacific Ocean. I sailed across the Pacific and saw no garbage until I got to shore. Of course, seeing garbage at sea would be somewhat difficult. I think Dustin Hoffman was right about the future belonging to plastics. I am now in the hospital with my mom. I notice that they use a lot of plastics (gowns, IV bags, tubes, etc.) and these contribute to the safety and sterility of her environment. No plastics? Wow! Return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.
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