Plastic In Our Homes - Are we using them Safely?

Plastic is everywhere, in our house, in car, at work place and so on. Just look around and you will find plastic all around it's part of our cars, utensils, mobile phones, kids toys almost everything we use on a daily basis. The most concerning role of plastic is it's usage in food containers and in our water bottles.
First of all we need to know what this plastic is made up of? Is it made of toxic chemicals? If yes how these toxins can effect our body?

Let's discuss few facts regarding the plastic material and chemicals involved in it's creation

What is BPA

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Have you ever noticed that, when you buy a plastic bottle or food container you may see a sticker on it which says "BPA free" or BPA safe". What exactly is BPA?
BPA stands for Bisphenol A. It has been discussed and researched a lot of times in recent past. Bisphenol A is an industrial chemical that is used to make certain types of plastics and it's basic usage is to strengthen the plastic and gives it a shape.
BPA is found in polycarbonate plastics. This kind of plastic is used in food containers and water bottles.

As per few researches done, BPA products when heated up can result in mixing of harmful chemicals into food or beverages from containers or bottles that are made with BPA. Regarding its effects on health. BPA is like estrogen and it could disrupts body's endocrine system. Estrogen or oestrogen is the primary female sex hormone as well as a medication. It is responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. Ref: Estrogen

Are BPA free Plastics containers/bottles safe?

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Lot of companies are selling their products based on the fact that the plastic, they use in their containers or bottles, is BPA free or BPA safe and is perfectly fine to use. Well this is not true. As per their claim, It may be BPA safe or BPA free, but fact of the matter is, even if we assume that their claim is correct and they don't use BPA, guess what? they use BPS, which is closely related to BPA and could be equally toxic. Recently a research was done in University of Texas and as per this research, BPS can cause endocrine disruption at the same low levels as BPA. Ref: BPS

Common Mistakes we do with Plastics at Home

We make three common mistakes e.g.

1- We subject it to HEAT

2- Scrub them to Clean

3- Re-use plastics for long time

BPA and other plastics toxins are released into the food that touches it and specially when food is heated up in it. BPA and plastic toxins releases fifty five times faster at higher temperatures e.g when heated in microwave ovens, also scratches the plastic utensils while washing could also cause toxins to enter our food.

Steps to avoid using Plastics

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We should be careful and avoid to use plastics as much as we can, specially related to food storage and bottles used for drinking water, tea etc.

1- Don't boil feeding bottles in order to sanitize them, instead use glass bottles or stainless steel bottles

2- Don't store plastic bottles under sun light

3- Avoid plastic strainers for hot beverages, instead use steel strainers

4- Don't pour hot liquids in plastic cups or jugs, instead use glass bottles or ceramic cups for hot liquids

5- Don't add hot food to plastic containers, use steel or glass boxed to pack food

6- Don't re-use mineral water bottles to store water as they are made up of low grade plastic

In summary avoid using as much plastic as you can. Stay healthy and safe :)