Who hasn't suspected that plastics aren't entirely safe? Anyone with taste buds can tell that plastics leach into the foods and drinks we store in them. After all, nearly all plastics are petroleum byproducts.
Plastics are everywhere. There are seven types of plastics that are commonly identified for recycling purposes with a "resin identification code". These codes reveal the class of plastic and can help you avoid plastics that contain, leach, or outgas toxins.
"Good" plastics with no components or leachates that are yet known to be hazardous to human health:
#1 PETE or PET - polyethylene terephthalate
#2 HDPE - high density polyethylene
#4 LDPE - low density polyethylene
#5 PP - polypropylene
Dangerous plastics:
#3 PVC or V - polyvinyl chloride: Manufacturing or burning PVC releases carcinogens (dioxins). Phthalates are "plasticizers" that make PVC more pliable. Vinyl shower curtains are loaded with phthalates. Examples of PVC: plastic "cling" wrap, anything with the "new car" or "new shower curtain" smell, PVC piping/plumbing. Science News articles suggest these effects of phthalates: may reduce sperm count or damage sperm in males, may shorten pregnancy, worsens skin allergies, may boost obesity, may cause developmental damage to fetuses, may elevate risk for developing asthma, eczema, and rhinitis, can mimic estrogen and "feminize" boys
#6 PS - polystyrene (aka "Styrofoam"): Made from styrene, a suspected carcinogen, PS also contains p-nonylphenol; both chemicals are suspected endocrine disruptors. Don't consume fatty foods or alcoholic beverages from Styrofoam containers; styrene can leach into these substances (I've actually watched styrofoam dissolve in beer.). Some opaque plastic cutlery is PS, as well.
#7 "Other" - includes a range of plastics like PC (polycarbonate), acrylic, fiberglass, and nylon: The major toxic concern is bisphenol-A (bpA) used in polycarbonate plastic. BpA is the chemical that links the plastic polymers together. Articles in Science News suggest that bpA has these effects: carcinogen, exposure in utero can disrupt brain and reproductive development, mimics the hormone estrogen, can "feminize" males, may cause illness, may cause genetic mutations, may increase risk of developing diabetes. Science News articles suggest that nearly all polycarbonate plastics will leach bpA when heated. Older PC bottles (cracked or cloudy) will leach 2 to 5 times more bpA than newer PC bottles unless the newer bottles have been scratched. New PC bottles that are scratched leach several times as much bpA as older, unscratched bottles. BpA can also leach into liquids from canned foods that use a PC can lining. For some reason, coffee in PC lined cans leaches 10 times as much bpA as any other tested liquid.
Bad news, backpackers. Those Nalgene bottles you've been using for years are made of Lexan, which is polycarbonate and contains bisphenol-A (Nalgene address bpA in their PC bottles). If you can still read the number, check the bottom of your Nalgene bottles: all #7s.
Even worse, the longer you've been using them, the more likely they are to be leaching bpA into your water. If you're like me, you've got opaque bottles dating back to Boy Scouts that used to be translucent still in circulation. Worst of all, bpA leaches from polycarbonate 10 times more when exposed to hot coffee. Backcountry Starbucks anyone? Heck, I used to pour coffee straight from coffee pot to Nalgene for my morning commute. Other brands that use polycarbonate: CamelBak, GSI, anything that says Lexan
Alternatives (all available at REI):
HDPE from Nalgene
Stainless steel: Kleen Kanteen
Aluminum: SIGG
More resources
Which plastics are safe or unsafe for food use? In what items are these plastics found (baby bottles, etc.)? Check out the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Smart Plastics Guide Healthier Food Uses of Plastics for Parents and Children (a quick pdf download) .
Bisphenol A FREE - A website digest of news stories about bpA.
Be Safe - National organization that lobbies large corporations to reduce prevalance of chemicals like PVC, dioxin, etc.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
A Burly Paceline - only in Boulder
On my way to recycling, I saw a paceline of Burlys. That would be two road cyclists, each towing a kid in a Burly trailer, in a paceline. Yes, the following cyclist was hunched over, her front tire just inches from her husband's Burly. They were resplendant in their neon windbreakers, 8 foot tall trailer flags flying high.
Friday, January 25, 2008
How to Plan a Ski Trip
10 years ago, nearly to the day, my friend Eric coaxed me into skiing for the first time. I couldn’t afford the trip and I didn’t have any of the gear. I knew about half of my tripmates, and only one other had never skied before.
But Eric’s convincing and persistant (and I was into one of the ladies on the trip), so, after just a few months of post-college employment, I begged for two barely deserved vacation days and took a long weekend trip to Blue Knob, “Pennsylvania’s Highest Skiable Mountain”. You haven’t heard of this mountain.
Ten of us stayed in a tiny two bedroom condo that had a bunk bed carved into the wall. I slept up top, but my nose was three inches from the ceiling, and I couldn’t roll over in bed without scraping a shoulder against the stucco. I didn’t sleep.
The high temp for the weekend was 12. Most of the ski runs had melted to patches the prior week and then frozen solid; only one trail was open, and it was a blue square. In jeans and a baseball cap that didn’t fit, I struggled through an awkward East Coast boot fit and ski/pole rental. I gangled to the lift. I pitched into the chair. I froze to the top. I fell off the chair and tangled up.
Eric, elated to be on the snow again, gave me a cursory lecture about “just shift your weight!” and zipped down the slope. The lady I was into tried to explain pizza and french fries. I commenced four awful, bitter runs. I crashed. I swore. I cried. I ranted. I slid sideways. I caught edges and toppled. In a fury, the other guy who’d never skiied broke a pole and whipped the other one into the woods. I gave up and hit the indoor pool.
The indoor pool had a poo floating in it, so I left. Eric dropped a plateful of spaghetti onto the condo floor. We went on a scouting mission for a Subway, and we got lost and returned two hours later. We got snowed in for a costly extra day. Eric and another guy got in a fight over some Playstation soccer game.
10 years later, I’m married to the lady, I own my gear, I know how to wax skis, and I can even ski pretty well. I’ve been to nearly all of the 9 consecutive ski trips that Eric’s planned since.
So here’s how to plan a ski trip:
First, plan to plan. Poll your friends. Who wants to go where and for how long? How many of them will actually commit a lodging deposit? Once you can answer those questions, you can begin the real planning.
Second, find 5-6 suitable ski hauses on Vacation Rentals By Owner. VRBO haus owners almost always overstate the number of adults their hauses can sleep comfortably, and beware the roll-out sofa or futon. Trust the lowest number in their range and don’t trust the high number until you’ve confirmed the bed-to-bedroom ratio on the haus’s details. Look for a haus that feels like a ski lodge, not a house. You’ll be spending most of your time there, lounging with friends, so make it feel like Austria or Norway. Antler chandeliers are good. Rough-hewn bedposts are good. An outdoor hot tub is a must. Tobaggan coffee tables are a nice touch. Once you have 5-6 places in your size and price range, you should get in touch with the owner to ask if the haus is available; never trust the online calendar. VRBO owners will almost always urge you to rent 4WD vehicles, and you will almost never really need them.
Third, money time. If your friends are staying for different lengths of time, splitting up the haus costs fairly can seem tricky, especially if friends are flying in from out-of-state. Out-of-towners don’t like paying a disproportionate amount of the hausing costs for in-staters to stay in an awesome ski haus for just two weekend nights. We’ve developed a simple, two-step process to keep it fair. List all your friends and how many nights each is planning to stay. Divide the haus cost by the number of nights. This is the “everyone pays the same” amount (aka “the pinko communist method”). Then add up the total number of bed slots that will be taken over the whole trip. Divide the haus cost by this number. This is the “hotel night” amount (aka “the pay for what you get” method). Multiply each person’s number of nights by the nightly amount. Finally, add the costs for both methods for each person and divide by two. This is a balanced way of making sure that the out-of-towners don’t get screwed because they’re staying longer and that the in-staters don’t subsidize the trip too much for the out-of-towners.
Fourth, limit the airport runs. And don’t let your friends book returning flights that depart at the crack of dawn.
Fifth, you may want to establish some haus rules. We have just two: no shoes in the haus. The other involves things you can’t do in the hot tub. Some other hot tub suggestions: last one out closes the lid, always clean up your bottle caps, snow angels highly encouraged, no hot dogs or nachos in the hot tub.
Sixth, make sure you plan out some forced friendly fun time. Have at least one family-style dinner. Play Catch Phrase or Taboo or Celebrities or a fun group card game like Durak. One of our favorite annual ski trip games is Sardines. It sounds lame, but it’s totally fun, especially if you turn off every single light in the haus and close all the shades. We’ve played for 4-5 hours before and had rounds go as long as 45 minutes.
Seventh, experienced skiers should always put in some community service time for the less experienced. Teach someone to ski. They’ll appreciate your help and, years later, you’ll always have someone you can take on ski trips!
But Eric’s convincing and persistant (and I was into one of the ladies on the trip), so, after just a few months of post-college employment, I begged for two barely deserved vacation days and took a long weekend trip to Blue Knob, “Pennsylvania’s Highest Skiable Mountain”. You haven’t heard of this mountain.
Ten of us stayed in a tiny two bedroom condo that had a bunk bed carved into the wall. I slept up top, but my nose was three inches from the ceiling, and I couldn’t roll over in bed without scraping a shoulder against the stucco. I didn’t sleep.
The high temp for the weekend was 12. Most of the ski runs had melted to patches the prior week and then frozen solid; only one trail was open, and it was a blue square. In jeans and a baseball cap that didn’t fit, I struggled through an awkward East Coast boot fit and ski/pole rental. I gangled to the lift. I pitched into the chair. I froze to the top. I fell off the chair and tangled up.
Eric, elated to be on the snow again, gave me a cursory lecture about “just shift your weight!” and zipped down the slope. The lady I was into tried to explain pizza and french fries. I commenced four awful, bitter runs. I crashed. I swore. I cried. I ranted. I slid sideways. I caught edges and toppled. In a fury, the other guy who’d never skiied broke a pole and whipped the other one into the woods. I gave up and hit the indoor pool.
The indoor pool had a poo floating in it, so I left. Eric dropped a plateful of spaghetti onto the condo floor. We went on a scouting mission for a Subway, and we got lost and returned two hours later. We got snowed in for a costly extra day. Eric and another guy got in a fight over some Playstation soccer game.
10 years later, I’m married to the lady, I own my gear, I know how to wax skis, and I can even ski pretty well. I’ve been to nearly all of the 9 consecutive ski trips that Eric’s planned since.
So here’s how to plan a ski trip:
First, plan to plan. Poll your friends. Who wants to go where and for how long? How many of them will actually commit a lodging deposit? Once you can answer those questions, you can begin the real planning.
Second, find 5-6 suitable ski hauses on Vacation Rentals By Owner. VRBO haus owners almost always overstate the number of adults their hauses can sleep comfortably, and beware the roll-out sofa or futon. Trust the lowest number in their range and don’t trust the high number until you’ve confirmed the bed-to-bedroom ratio on the haus’s details. Look for a haus that feels like a ski lodge, not a house. You’ll be spending most of your time there, lounging with friends, so make it feel like Austria or Norway. Antler chandeliers are good. Rough-hewn bedposts are good. An outdoor hot tub is a must. Tobaggan coffee tables are a nice touch. Once you have 5-6 places in your size and price range, you should get in touch with the owner to ask if the haus is available; never trust the online calendar. VRBO owners will almost always urge you to rent 4WD vehicles, and you will almost never really need them.
Third, money time. If your friends are staying for different lengths of time, splitting up the haus costs fairly can seem tricky, especially if friends are flying in from out-of-state. Out-of-towners don’t like paying a disproportionate amount of the hausing costs for in-staters to stay in an awesome ski haus for just two weekend nights. We’ve developed a simple, two-step process to keep it fair. List all your friends and how many nights each is planning to stay. Divide the haus cost by the number of nights. This is the “everyone pays the same” amount (aka “the pinko communist method”). Then add up the total number of bed slots that will be taken over the whole trip. Divide the haus cost by this number. This is the “hotel night” amount (aka “the pay for what you get” method). Multiply each person’s number of nights by the nightly amount. Finally, add the costs for both methods for each person and divide by two. This is a balanced way of making sure that the out-of-towners don’t get screwed because they’re staying longer and that the in-staters don’t subsidize the trip too much for the out-of-towners.
Fourth, limit the airport runs. And don’t let your friends book returning flights that depart at the crack of dawn.
Fifth, you may want to establish some haus rules. We have just two: no shoes in the haus. The other involves things you can’t do in the hot tub. Some other hot tub suggestions: last one out closes the lid, always clean up your bottle caps, snow angels highly encouraged, no hot dogs or nachos in the hot tub.
Sixth, make sure you plan out some forced friendly fun time. Have at least one family-style dinner. Play Catch Phrase or Taboo or Celebrities or a fun group card game like Durak. One of our favorite annual ski trip games is Sardines. It sounds lame, but it’s totally fun, especially if you turn off every single light in the haus and close all the shades. We’ve played for 4-5 hours before and had rounds go as long as 45 minutes.
Seventh, experienced skiers should always put in some community service time for the less experienced. Teach someone to ski. They’ll appreciate your help and, years later, you’ll always have someone you can take on ski trips!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Being alive is dangerous to your health.
U.S. law allows most manufacturers to use toxic materials in products without telling anyone. Only the food and drug industries are closely regulated for product safety, and even their labelling tells consumers just a fraction of the relevant information. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires the disclosure of the presence of trans fat in a food only if a single serving size contains more than a half gram of total fats. In other words, a food can contain a half gram of trans fat and the label can still say “0 grams”. Even if unhealthy ingredients are listed, most Americans don’t know how they affect health. Other industries are worse; there are cosmetics on the market that contain lead (lipstick), mercury (eye drops), and placenta (hair conditioners).
In October, 2006, National Geographic ran a feature, "Chemicals Within Us - The Pollution Within", for which the magazine dropped $15,000 to run a "journalist-as-guinea pig" experiment. Mt. Sinai hospital sucked 14 vials of blood from reporter David Ewing Duncan to perform a comprehensive blood screen. The goal: to identify and quantify known pollutants in him. The results are an alarming chemical klaxon—we are polluting ourselves. And this pollution does not come only from the iconic factory smokestack. The article identifies dozens of household sources of toxic chemicals, from cosmetics to furniture to more obvious sources like pesticides and cleaners.
Science News, a weekly digest of news from dozens of scientific journals and conferences, has been reporting on similar studies of household pollutants (for example, search its website for “bisphenol-a” or “pfoa”.). There have been stories about non-stick coatings releasing fumes toxic enough to kill household pets and plastics used in baby bottles that disrupt fetal development and may induce diabetes.
WIRED magazine runs a single page feature each issue called “What’s Inside?”, profiling the contents of a consumer product. Since I began subscribing last spring, WIRED has profiled gasoline, whipped cream, shaving gel, E-Z Cheese, and several other mostly synthetic consumer products. WIRED’s satirical product labelling provides more than a list of ingredients, it quickly surveys their sources and health effects. FDA take note.
The skeptic can easily raise an eyebrow at websites with flamboyant titles like “Our Stolen Future” and “PVC: The Poison Plastic”, but National Geographic, Science News, WIRED?
The mainstream media paid attention last fall when American toy manufacturers voluntarily recalled children’s toys that contained lead, GHB (the date rape drug), and powdered asbestos. Why are these recalls voluntary? Why don’t manufacturers have to tell us what’s in children’s toys? Why are there no penalties for selling toxic products?
The U.S. government, in its own ponderous way, is finally beginning to acknowledge the possibility of a problem with our toxic lifestyle. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have begun releasing a series of reports on toxins in the American bloodstream. This National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals is a start. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is narrowly involved as well, with its Endocrine Disruptors Research Initiative.
Unfortunately for the public health, the chemical lobby is hard at work protecting the profitable interests of its member companies and their customers. The American Chemistry Council (ACC), for example, runs several websites denying or downplaying the dangers found in the scientific evidence, especially for consumer plastics. Some ACC funded websites include: the Phthalate Information Center, Bisphenol-A, PlasticsMythBuster, and PlasticsInfo.org.
Many of these health hazards are systemic to our political-economy, but there are ways that we as individuals can reduce our personal toxic load.
In October, 2006, National Geographic ran a feature, "Chemicals Within Us - The Pollution Within", for which the magazine dropped $15,000 to run a "journalist-as-guinea pig" experiment. Mt. Sinai hospital sucked 14 vials of blood from reporter David Ewing Duncan to perform a comprehensive blood screen. The goal: to identify and quantify known pollutants in him. The results are an alarming chemical klaxon—we are polluting ourselves. And this pollution does not come only from the iconic factory smokestack. The article identifies dozens of household sources of toxic chemicals, from cosmetics to furniture to more obvious sources like pesticides and cleaners.
Science News, a weekly digest of news from dozens of scientific journals and conferences, has been reporting on similar studies of household pollutants (for example, search its website for “bisphenol-a” or “pfoa”.). There have been stories about non-stick coatings releasing fumes toxic enough to kill household pets and plastics used in baby bottles that disrupt fetal development and may induce diabetes.
WIRED magazine runs a single page feature each issue called “What’s Inside?”, profiling the contents of a consumer product. Since I began subscribing last spring, WIRED has profiled gasoline, whipped cream, shaving gel, E-Z Cheese, and several other mostly synthetic consumer products. WIRED’s satirical product labelling provides more than a list of ingredients, it quickly surveys their sources and health effects. FDA take note.
The skeptic can easily raise an eyebrow at websites with flamboyant titles like “Our Stolen Future” and “PVC: The Poison Plastic”, but National Geographic, Science News, WIRED?
The mainstream media paid attention last fall when American toy manufacturers voluntarily recalled children’s toys that contained lead, GHB (the date rape drug), and powdered asbestos. Why are these recalls voluntary? Why don’t manufacturers have to tell us what’s in children’s toys? Why are there no penalties for selling toxic products?
The U.S. government, in its own ponderous way, is finally beginning to acknowledge the possibility of a problem with our toxic lifestyle. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have begun releasing a series of reports on toxins in the American bloodstream. This National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals is a start. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is narrowly involved as well, with its Endocrine Disruptors Research Initiative.
Unfortunately for the public health, the chemical lobby is hard at work protecting the profitable interests of its member companies and their customers. The American Chemistry Council (ACC), for example, runs several websites denying or downplaying the dangers found in the scientific evidence, especially for consumer plastics. Some ACC funded websites include: the Phthalate Information Center, Bisphenol-A, PlasticsMythBuster, and PlasticsInfo.org.
Many of these health hazards are systemic to our political-economy, but there are ways that we as individuals can reduce our personal toxic load.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
A Polluted Lifestyle
I’m a healthy, relatively fit, 32-year old guy. I work for an endurance sports fitness publisher in Boulder, CO. It’s a health-conscious job in a health-obsessed town. Yet I live a polluted life. A typical day:
- Wake up, brush teeth (with antibiotics, flouride – a neurotoxin, other chemicals).
- Use mouthwash (with artificial colorants, flavors, alcohol).
- Make coffee in my plastic coffee maker (possible bisphenol-A from polycarbonate plastics).
- Hit the shower, using soap and shampoo (made of petroleum by-products).
- Shave with all sorts of synthetic, petroleum-based chemicals.
- Apply aluminum-based deodorant.
- Get dressed (in clothing routinely cleaned with petroleum-based detergents).
- Eat breakfast of cereal with milk (fertilizers, pesticides, bovine growth hormone, antibiotics).
- Pour hot coffee into Nalgene bottle, add milk (bisphenol-A from polycarbonate bottle, more bovine growth and antibiotics).
- Drive to work (outgassed fumes from vinyl dashboard/console, exposure to various flame retardants in upholstery, exposure to stain-resistant chemicals in upholstery, carcinogens and heavy metals from car exhaust, carcinogens and particulates from diesel exhaust, heavy metals from brake pad and tire dust).
- Work (exposure to office cleaning agents, allergens, etc.)
- Drive to lunch and back for a deli sandwich and soda for lunch (more growth hormones and antibiotics from meat, more pesticides from vegetables and bread, more bisphenol-A from polycarbonate soda can liner, more car and exhaust pollutants).
- Brush teeth (more antibiotics and flouride)
- Afternoon snack (possible crop-related pesticides, nitrates, etc.)
- Drive home (carcinogens from gas fumes, more car and exhaust pollutants).
- Go for a jog or bike ride (more exhaust pollutants and allergens but breathed more deeply into my lungs).
- Eat dinner (more fertilizers, pesticides, bovine growth hormone, antibiotics).
- Clean up dinner with dish soap, dish detergent.
- Play with kid (exposure to flame retardants and stain resistants on carpeting).
- Mess around on computer or watch tv (exposure to flame retardants and stain resistants on upholstery).
- Brush teeth (more antibiotics and flouride).
- Go to bed (on pillow and mattress doused in flame retardants and stain resistants).
Then there’s the less-than-daily chores: cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms; doing the laundry; changing motor oil in the cars; replacing windshield wiper fluid; getting gas. All of these tasks involve shorter exposures to more toxic chemicals.
Toxicologists like to say that “everything is toxic at a high enough dose”. Most of the individual toxic doses of daily living are minute. Yet small, repeated doses can raise the body’s chemical load. Some of these chemicals may interact in ways we don’t yet understand. And some of these chemicals persist in the body; it takes days, weeks, months, or years before they are eliminated.
What does your daily routine look like, chemically?
Saturday, January 19, 2008
New Year's Resolutions
1. Reduce our use of toxic cosmetics and cleaning agents (more on this later).
2. Do a triathlon or two.
3. Go for two long bike rides (metric century and a century).
4. Don't let training get in the way of hiking, backpacking, and camping.
5. Hike at least once a week.
6. Go car camping more often.
7. Backpack with the kid (all 15 pounds of him).
8. Commute by bike.
9. Get to work earlier in the morning and leave earlier in the afternoon.
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