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    Clear and Plastic Danger: The Alien in your Kitchen
    Clear and Plastic Danger: The Alien in your Kitchen
    Clear and Plastic Danger: The Alien in your Kitchen
    Ebook140 pages1 hour

    Clear and Plastic Danger: The Alien in your Kitchen

    By David Lefavor

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    About this ebook

    America has been obsessed with plastics for over 50 years and just about all that we use every day has plastic in it. The rapid proliferation of plastics, and the absolute universality of plastic in our lives, suggests a deep and enduring relationship. But our feelings toward plastic are a complicated mix of dependence and distrust. There is currently worldwide concern that the Bisphenol - A (BPA) compound used in making plastic is causing serious adverse health effects. BPA has been regarded as safe for decades; however, recent research using sophisticated analytic techniques have now classified it, as well as the whole group of Bisphenol compounds, as Endocrine Disruptors. Now in 2014, there is no disputing the evidence clearly showing that the accumulated and prolonged exposure to these substances can interfere with our endocrine system and cause a whole range of ill health consequences, including reproductive problems and cancer.
    BPA has become the plastic’s industry miracle compound. It only has one problem, BPA does not behave itself well in the kitchen around food. For most people, the primary source of exposure to BPA is through their diet. When BPA is used in plastic products that come in contact with humans, foods, cookware, dishes, and baby bottles, a transfer of chemistry occurs. These chemicals act upon our human bodies in a convoluted and complicated way. The BPA leaches into our food and begins to negatively affect our hormones, and they interfere with the endocrine system, which is the network of glands that orchestrate growth and development. The problem with BPA is that when it gets into our bodies, over time, it initiates estrogenic activity in our cells. When BPA gets inside our system, it seems to act like an estrogen in our human endocrine system. From all the independent studies, BPA is shown to mimic the hormone estrogen, it has been linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and lower semen quality. BPA has also been linked to childhood developmental problems. What is most worrying is that BPA is present in so many consumer products, including plastic bottles, canned goods, CDs, sunglasses, dental devices and fillings, household electronics and cigarettes. It is time for you to learn about how these alien endocrine disruptors are in your kitchen and attacking your health and well-being.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid Lefavor
    Release dateAug 7, 2014
    Clear and Plastic Danger: The Alien in your Kitchen

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      Book preview

      Clear and Plastic Danger - David Lefavor

      Clear and Plastic Danger

      The Alien in your Kitchen

      By Chaplain David Lefavor, D.Min, BCC

      Published by Chaplain David Lefavor at Smashwords

      Copyright 2014 by Chaplain David Lefavor

      Disclaimer: The views expressed in this presentation are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of Veteran Affairs, or any other components, or departments of the U.S. Federal Government. This work is intended for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical or health care advice, nor should it be used to diagnose or treat any patients.

      Narrative information and picture usage: While every precaution has been taken to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the narrative information and facts, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained in this presentation. The pictures were all acquired from non-commercial, public domain internet web sites, and have been digitally enhanced to illustrate the narrative information presented in the publication.

      Acknowledgments: A special thanks goes out to my daughter Maryanne for her tireless efforts in proofreading this work. I also wish to thank my wife Rosemary who believed in me about the dangers of plastic ware in our kitchen. A warm thank you goes to Marcie Roe for her art work support, and to the outstanding Ebook formating by Katrina Joyner, at ebookcovers4u.wordpress.com.

      Clear and Plastic Danger

      The Alien in your Kitchen

      By

      Chaplain David Lefavor, D.Min, BCC

      Clear and Plastic Danger

      The Alien in your Kitchen

      Chapter One: The All Too Common: Plastics in Our Lives

      Chapter Two: The Alien in the Kitchen: Bisphenol-A (BPA)

      Chapter Three: A Toxic Marriage: Plastic Food Containers and Chemicals

      Chapter Four Got Receipt: Get BPA

      Chapter Five: Alien Assault: The Attack of the Endocrine Disruptors - BPA and Phthalates

      Chapter Six: Bottled Water: A Clear Biochemical Cocktail

      Chapter Seven Recycle Codes: Confusion by the Numbers

      Chapter Eight BPA Free: The Regrettable Substitution

      Chapter Nine From the Sea: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

      Chapter Ten Banishing BPA: Banning Plastic Bags

      Chapter Eleven Informed Consent: Living with Plastics

      Chapter Twelve Final Thoughts: Epilogue and Working Bibliography

      Epilogue

      Working Bibliography:

      Other books from the Lefavor team:

      Chapter One:

      The All Too Common: Plastics in Our Lives

      Plastics are in our lives to stay, they play an important role in almost every aspect of our lives. Look around you and you’ll see that you are surrounded by things that are made with plastic: Furniture, Soda bottles, cell phones, cups and glasses, computers, credit cards, door knobs, car parts, toothbrushes, hair combs, pens, TVs and VCRs, CDs and DVDs. Every time you buy something at a store you get a plastic bag. Last year the U.S. produced over 100 billion plastic bags, and sold over 30 billion bottles of spring water. Most of them have ended up in landfills and will not decompose until, maybe, sometime in the next century.

      Of all the plastic items around U.S. today, there are common items that we drink out of: plastic bottles, drinking cups, baby bottles, sippy cups. The list is long, and these objects that we so easily put up to our mouths are quite ubiquitous. We certainly take for granted, the unspoken assumption that all these items are safe for our use. We know we should recycle them, but most the time, they go out with the trash. According to Green Cup Challenge we go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and only 1 out of 4 is recycled. Enough plastic bottles are thrown away each year to circle the earth four times. Additionally, we spent over 11.8 billion dollars on bottled water last year.

      America has been obsessed with plastics for over 50 years and just about everything that we treasure has plastic in it. The rapid proliferation of plastics, the utter universality of it in our lives, suggests a deep and enduring relationship. But our feelings toward plastic are a complicated mix of dependence and distrust. I do not know what we would do if we did not have plastic. If it is man-made and you are not absolutely sure that it is metal, wood/paper, or glass/ceramic, then it is probably plastic. This includes many things that look like metal, wood, or paper, and includes synthetic cloth fabrics. Amazingly, this is all new in the last 40 or so years. At the end of the 1950's, about the only plastic in a home were nylon stockings and vinyl records. Our beverages came in glass or waxed cardboard. Cars were made of metal, our furniture was made of wood, cloths were made of cotton and wool, toys were made of metal and wood, and our food containers were cast iron, or some type of metal.

      Today it is very different, most of what we use in our life is made of plastic. Most of today’s major plastic producers, such as Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, BASF, and Total Petrochemical, grew up when petroleum and chemical industries began in the 1950s. These now huge giants in the plastics industry were the first to conduct the research and development of polymers. Standard Oil was the first to figure it out how to isolate the hydrocarbons in crude oil petroleum rather than burning off the ethylene gas byproduct. That innovation helped give rise to the modern petrochemical companies that produce the raw, unprocessed polymers known as resins which are now the building blocks of today’s plastic industry which employs over a million American workers. But at what cost to our health and well-being, and to our environment?

      Most plastics are made from oil. Plastics are man-made materials. They are a useful invention because they are waterproof, easy to shape and tough. They have taken the place of traditional materials like wood and metal in many products. Today’s Plastics can be divided into two major categories: Thermosetting and Thermoplastics.

      Thermosetting plastics: Thermosetting is a type of plastic made from polymer resins that becomes liquid when heated to around 230F degrees and can be molded into shape then when it cools the plastic will not change shape. Thermoset materials are usually liquid, or malleable, prior to curing and designed to be molded into their final form, or used as adhesives. Once cooled and hardened, these plastics retain their shapes and cannot return to their original form. They are hard and durable. Others are solids like that of the molding compound used in semiconductors and integrated electrical circuits. Once hardened, a thermoset resin cannot be reheated and melted back to a liquid form.

      Thermosetting plastics are generally strong and resistant to heat, but they melt the first time they are heated to a high enough temperature and harden (set) permanently when cooled. They can never be melted or reshaped again. They are used in situations where resistance to heat is important such as kitchen work surfaces, good-quality plastic cups, saucepan handles and plug casings. Thermosets can be used for auto parts, aircraft parts and tires. Examples include polyurethanes, polyesters, epoxy resins and phenolic resins. There are five types of Thermosetting plastics:

      Bakelite: Named after the Belgian inventor, Leo Baeleland. It is a brand name for any of a series of thermosetting plastics prepared by heating phenol or cresol with formaldehyde resin and ammonia under pressure: used for radio cabinets, telephone receivers,

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