"In view of the high prevalence of plastic products, the rapid increase in their production and the amount of chemicals that the environment and humans are exposed to, it is important to replace the most dangerous components in plastic products with less dangerous components," says Delilah Lithner from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Many plastic products contain dangerous chemicals that may leak into the environment. In studies conducted at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, it was found that a third of the plastic materials tested did indeed release dangerous substances, including 5 out of 13 products intended for children.
"In view of the high prevalence of plastic products, the rapid increase in their production and the amount of chemicals that the environment and humans are exposed to, it is important to replace the most dangerous components in plastic products with less dangerous components," says Delilah Lithner from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Plastic includes various chemical compositions and its products are common among humans and in the environment. The annual global production of plastic products has doubled over the past 15 years, reaching 245 million tons in 2008. The plastic polymers themselves are not toxic, but they may contain residues of toxic chemicals, chemical additives, or degradation products that may leak out because they are not chemically bound to the polymer itself. Plastic products also cause waste disposal problems.
In her research, the scientist tested the toxicity of 83 randomly selected plastic products and synthetic fabrics. The products purchased a long time ago were immersed in pure (ion-free) water for 3-1 days. The degree of toxicity of the water was tested by water fleas (Daphnia magna).
"A third of all 83 plastic products and synthetic chemicals tested emitted substances that were actually toxic to water fleas, even though the rate of leakage was moderate. "Five out of 13 products intended for children were found to be toxic, products such as bath toys," notes the researcher.
The products that led to receiving toxic water were soft or semi-soft products consisting of polymers of the type PVC or polyurethanes, as well as epoxy products and textiles consisting of a variety of plastic fibers. The toxicity was mainly due to fat-soluble organic substances.
The researchers also examined the chemicals used to produce about fifty different plastic polymers and identified the polymers whose production involves the most dangerous chemicals. In the next step, they ranked these polymers according to the degree of health and environmental risk posed by the chemicals that make them up. Examples of these plastic polymers are polyurethanes, polyacrylonitriles, PVC, epoxies and styrene copolymers. The findings are particularly important for further evaluations regarding the environmental and health risks inherent in these plastic materials.
7 תגובות
I recently bought a heat diffuser for the bathroom from Elektrokhanan. I have been buying this product of theirs for years and many times. This time I bought it at the building materials store "Cebal Teri" in Haifa. By the time I got home, the car was filled with a horrible smell and as soon as I started it in the bathtub that made me run away within a minute after I started feeling very bad. I returned it to the store and received it after a week of "repair" with an advertising label from the agency that handles breakdowns for Electrochanan. Since I am in the field of poisons. I asked Various factors. What has changed with the Electrochanan company? I answered that they moved the production to China as I assumed. Without a doubt the Chinese who today do not throw away even one gram of plastic that is all recycled are killing a large part of the population slowly and surely. Where is the Ministry of Health to which I intend to contact. Where is the corrupt Standards Institute From my experience with them for years. By the way, the same thing happens with kettles for boiling water that are sold for ridiculous amounts of NIS 50.60 to about NIS 120. Beware of manufacturers and importers from China who are engaged in murder as well as importers of cheap furniture full of the carcinogenic substance formaldehyde which mainly harms babies and children in their rooms according to a senior doctor from the children's hospital Schneider as an explanation for the dramatic increase in children with cancer. The same thing happened to me with a CD drive that I once bought at ksp ahuct nxhi may the name be preserved.
It turns out that not only is it likely, but it is a fact.
By the way, I assume that if someone succeeds in proving that P=NP or proves the opposite - he will receive a doctorate even if the proof is on less than one page.
By the way Michael, you noticed - a 36-page doctoral thesis. Is it reasonable?
01haam:
You are right and it seems that the work itself refers to this (page 15) even though I did not bother to try to interpret the text accurately.
http://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24978/1/gupea_2077_24978_1.pdf
It should be noted at what temperature the toxins are emitted. For example: if you drink a cold drink (room temperature or below) maybe the plastic vessel will not emit anything, while at high temperatures (say 70 degrees and above) emission will occur.
It is also necessary to indicate when providing information as above in which environment or contact the emission occurs.
This is why plastic collars keep fleas away from dogs 😉
Important information, and a real challenge for the industry.
I wonder how many of the mentioned toxic substances actually have functional substitutes?
Does the cost expectancy of the substitutes approach that of the toxins?
Are there applied research programs to search for these substitutes?