Health Alert: Plastics May Make You Fat

Why Chemicals Called Obesogens May Make You Fat

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. Since the 1950s, one billion tons of plastic has been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years.In some cases, burning plastic can release toxic fumes. Burning the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) may create dioxin. Also, the manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants.

Health Alert: Plastics May Make You Fat

March 20th, 2007 Enviromental

I have written many articles on this site that expose all the destructive effects that environmental chemicals have on our health, but today I ran across an article in the Washington Post that suggests that environmental chemicals may also be making us fat. From preliminary evidence of researchers in studying abnormal changes in animal¡¯s sexual development, scientists have identified a trigger for fat-cell activity caused by a common chemical used in products from marine paints and pesticides to food and beverage containers.

This chemical is called bisphenol A, and in a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they found 95 percent of the people they tested had levels at or above those that affected development in animal studies. Studies by Frederick vom Saal, professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri at Columbia, have indicates that developmental exposure to low doses of bisphenol A activates genetic mechanisms that promote fat-cell activity. Professor vom Saal reported that ¡°these in-utero effects are lifetime effects, and they occur at phenomenally small levels of exposure¡±.

With the World Health Organization estimates that there are more than a billion adults worldwide who are overweight and 300 million who are obese, scientists are beginning to suspect that it may be more than just overeating and too little exercise. Could our ingestion of this chemical by mothers be creating kids who are predisposed to adipogenesis or fat cell proliferation? Bruce Blumberg, a developmental and cell biologist at the University of California at Irvine, called them ¡°obesogens¡± which are chemicals that promote obesity. And, Jerry Heindel, a top official at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reported a suspected link between obesity and exposure to these ¡°endocrine disrupters¡± due to their hormone-like effects.

There has been some criticism of the studies by the chemical industry citing that research has only been done on laboratory animals. In response to this criticism, the scientists point out that the genetic receptors that control fat cell activity in laboratory animals are functionally identical across species. They report that they work virtually the same way in fish as they do in rats and humans. And, researchers have been studying bisphenol A¡¯s effects on estrogen function for more than a decade. That, coupled with the more recent study that reported that 95% of their human subjects had levels that were significant, we may be on to something here.

The alarming news from this latest research is concerning because bisphenol A is an ingredient in polycarbonate plastics used in refillable water containers, baby bottles, epoxy resins that line the inside of food cans and even in dental sealants. (Damn, if the mercury doesn¡¯t get us the bisphenol A will.) Also, you have to take into consideration that in 2003, alone, the U.S. industry consumed about 2 Billion pounds of bisphenol A.

This kind of reminds me of the global warming debate when people say that the planet has endured many, many cycles of warming in the past, but just like the counter to this argument is that compounded with natural cycles, we have never polluted the planet with tons and tons of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other noxious chemicals ¡ª there has bound to be some effect. The same may apply to all the industrial and environmental chemicals that we are polluting the planet with. With over 84,000 known chemicals being introduced into the environment each year and with tons of each being produced each year, there has bound to be some effect on our health. My only question is, what is going to eventual do us in ¡ª the external pollution or the internal pollution? It¡¯s anybody¡¯s guess.