
Harmful and Cancer Causing Chemicals Hiding In Your New York Kitchen
Health risks regarding chemicals found in those popular black plastic kitchen utensils are being made public. Should you throw yours away?
Many of you probably remember a month or so ago a study came out saying that there were certain chemicals found in black plastics that were linked directly to causing cancer. It turns out there may have been some errors in that study and now scientists are revisiting it to find out how much of those chemicals are truly in the black plastics we use on a daily basis.
Originally the study said that there were "dangerous" levels of Decabromodiphenyl ether in the black plastics because many black plastic products are made from recycled products. These are not only used in common kitchen utensils but also can be found on many toys. How do the recycled plastics end up in our products?
Some electronics like computers, TVs, speakers and coffee machines, have casings made of black plastic and are treated with flame retardants to prevent electrical fires.
The concern is that these chemicals are commonly used as flame retardants and human consumption of these is not really good. The above mentioned products shouldn't be recycled, but that's in a perfect world and sometimes they do end up being recycled.
Now, a month later other scientist are saying that the study isn't accurate and those products isn't as lethal as you may think.
Researchers say that the original study says that the levels of chemicals is 10 times what a human should be exposed to. Apparently it is not even close to that according to new information.
In reality, it was actually less than a tenth of the limit, indicating that the risk to the public was far lower than initially reported.
Here are some key takeaways for me:
- Even if they say it's a low amount of flame retardant chemicals in my utensils used for cooking, that's still too much.
- Who is responsible for the funding of the first research project? Wooden utensil enthusiasts?
- Let's do a better job of keeping ALL harmful chemicals away from things we eat.
Bottom line, I don't know who decided any level of flame retardant chemicals were "safe" for us because I would much rather just have zero of those in utensils that are used n my food to cook or store it. Let's do better.
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Gallery Credit: Michelle Heart
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