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Teaching Our Families Responsible Plastic Awareness By Melissa J Wantuck  |
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 Protecting our world for today and for our children is a concern many parents often ponder as they go about their everyday lives consuming products. Above that, there’s concern about the risk of what impact products we use may have on our family’s health, not just the environment. A product that has recently made headlines for posing a health hazard is plastic.
Plastic is a synthetic product created from materials that have been brought together through a chemical reaction. There are a lot of technical terms that go into creating plastic so to avoid a chemistry lesson we’re using a layman’s description. Plastic is not a natural element, like oxygen or carbon.
A benefit of plastic is its usability. It can be formed into various products from containers to flexible sheets. Plastic has millions of uses and the cost of manufacturing it is inexpensive so its use has become commonplace in all aspects of our lives from building materials, healthcare products, food storage, and vehicle parts, to name a few.
Along with its innumerable uses, concerns about plastic have risen. Two facts about plastic have resulted in a second glance review of plastic. First, as mentioned before, plastic is created through a chemical reaction. That means chemicals are used in the creation process. Second, also mentioned, plastic is not a natural element. Both of these facts result in concerns whether the chemicals in plastic are harmful to us physically and what are the effects on the environment when we dispose of plastic?
To address these two concerns, government regulations have been passed and thousands of studies have been conducted to assess how plastic affects people and the environment. Nationwide recycling plans offer solutions to reuse most of the plastic products after we’re done with them.
Take into consideration the effort made by plastics companies through the Society of the Plastics Industry in 1988 to identify the type of plastics used in their products. This identification system is called the resin identification coding system, and although plastics companies participate voluntarily, more and more are marking the resin ID code on their products as various state governments have begun to pass laws for its use. The resin ID code is a three-arrow triangle synonymous with the recycling symbol with a number in the middle. Numbers are from 1 to 7 and they identify the type of materials used in making the plastic container. Here is a chart provided by the American Chemistry Council that lists each resin ID code, the primary resin material in the plastic, how it is used and what it is most often recycled into.
One particular material used in making plastic that has been making headlines for posing a health danger to us is bisphenol A (BPA). According to a Washington Post article published April 27, 2008, “Studies on Chemical in Plastics Questioned,” the danger of BPA is real to our health and has been proven by the scientific community but is being ignored.
Contrary to what is reported in the Washington Post, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced in their 2006 risk assessment BPA does not provide a severe health hazard to humans and raised their Tolerable Daily Intake of BPA higher than the U.S.’s standard. With the release of the Washington Post’s article, the EFSA is considering re-evaluating their risk assessment.
The fact of the matter, and this is seconded by the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) in their article “Why Journalism Is Failing the Public on the Risk of Plastics” published May 6, 2008, there isn’t enough scientific proof to definitely say BPA is or isn’t a danger to us. Studies continue and the EFSA considering a re-review is testament to the effort by governments and the science community’s dedication to guaranteeing safe products.
Given the relative uncertainty that persists regarding the effect of plastic, what can parents do to address the issue with their families? The decision is entirely a personal one but the best way to make that decision is to be as informed as possible.
Take into consideration the information that has been presented, and use the Resin ID Code as a guide for any plastics your family regularly uses. Reportedly BPA is present in plastics that have a resin ID code of 3 or 7. To recycle the plastics your family uses, contact your local waste removal agency to learn more about their recycling policies and procedures.
If you want to distance yourself from plastic as much as possible, use containers made from natural materials such as glass, ceramic, and stoneware for food and beverage storage, switch to paper grocery bags or reusable shopping bags. These are a few ideas. The most important thing to do is stay informed.
Here are some additional websites to learn more about plastics:
www.epa.gov
www.fda.gov
www.factsonplastics.com
www.plasticsmythbuster.org
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