BPA Plastic Essay Example

BPA Plastic Essay Example BPA Plastic Essay BPA Plastic Essay A Closer Look Into Bisphenol A: Definition, Influences And Actions Taken To Minimize The Exposure It is a universal truth that plastics have become part and parcel of modern life. However, there is much concern these days about the credibility of this daily item where some parties stated that plastics are detrimental to the users. Walsh (2010) mentioned that during the yesteryears, it was believed that even though plastic bottle contains chemicals that could infiltrate the human body, but as the quantity of the dose was too low, the effect was negligible. As biomonitoring improved, scientists iscovered that people were carrying much more chemicals than expected where some toxins would harm at extremely low levels. By that, Gurd (2007) stressed that there was a need to pay attention to the type of plastic that was used to produce water bottle. This can be done by checking the recycle symbol on the plastic-made- bottle where 2, 4 and 5 was representing high density polyethylene, low density polyethylene and polypropylene respectively. For instances, these bottles were fine. The bottle marked with 1 was only recommended to be used once only while 7 is the orst case among all as these bottles made of polycarbonate (PC) plastics may leach Bisphenol A (SPA). In order to gain a deeper understanding on the related issues of BPA, we should now take a scrutiny into this chemical; definitions, habits, the side effects and the efforts implemented to minimize the exposure of BPA to human. What is BPA? BPA is commonly linked to PC plastics which is a hard plastic used to make refillable bottles for students and camper (Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), 2009). Hence, what is the relationship between BPA and PC Plastics? HSPH efined PC plastic bottles as an imperative contributor to the quantity of BPA in the humans body. Supporting HSPHs perspective, De Coensel, David and Sandra (2009) further explained about BPA as the principal monomer in the production of PC plastics. These kinds of plastics which are strong, durable and possess good physical stability at high temperature are widely used to manufacture baby bottles too. Besides, Gurd (2007) also added that these colorful and fabulous plastics are marked with recycling symbol 7 and may leach BPA. Statistics showed that consumerism on BPA is becoming bigger nowadays as 2. 7 billion kilogram of these chemicals are produced globally every year (Walsh, 2010). Based on the study done by researchers of HSPH, they realized that participants who drank cold liquids for a week from PC bottles had shown a two-thirds increase of BPA in their bodies. According to Michels, associate professor of epidemiology at HSPH and senior author of this study, the levels of BPA will be considerably higher given that those bottles was heated. Due to that, attention should be drawn to babies since they are particularly susceptible to BPAs endocrine disrupting potential. Hence, there is a need for knowing how the migration of BPA from bottles occurred. Basically, at higher temperatures, hydrolysis of PCs can take place, releasing traces of BPA that eventually leached into food and beverages (De Coensel et al. ). Walsh in his article had cited that, The CDC or Center for Disease Americans over the age of 6 and the levels observed are considered well below the federal safety threshold of . 0 micrograms per kg. of body weight per day. scientists have learned more about the effects of even a bit of SPA. In short, the effects of BPA should not be looked from a narrow and shallow context and there is a need to further investigate the negative impacts of this chemical. With the objective of understanding the nature of BPA, an experiment carried out by De Coensel et al. (2009), concluding that the higher the temperature, the more t he BPA is released from the bottles. The method was simply done by heating water- containing-bottles that spiked with some d6-BPA at 4 selected temperatures with condition that the liquid was allowed to contact with the bottles for 30 minutes. The esult obtained vividly proved that BPA which brought along a lot of disadvantages exists within our daily life. Walsh (2010) in his article, The Perils Of Plastics strongly criticized that BPA, as a synthetic estrogen has the ability to mimic hormones, such as testosterone and adrenalin. Thus, immense biological and behavioral changes might be occurred if BPA did mirror the hormones role, especially if the people exposed to this chemical was undergoing critical period of development like the first trimester of gestation. In addition, Walsh also expressed his concern on children who are articularly vulnerable to chemical exposure, as their eating habits are more relative to their body weight compare to adults. Meanwhile, Walshs perspective where BPA is an estrogen was supported by Gurd (2007) who further described this chemical as xenoestrogen, an endocrine disruptor agent that can disturb our bodies hormonal messaging. Nevertheless, Gurd highlighted that xenoestrogens is harmful enough to cause breast and uterine cancer in women while testosterone levels in men were reduced. Apart from that, BPA can also lead to insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes. Having said that, HSPH (2009) pointed out that not only human can be the victims with the risks of suffering from cardiovascular diseases, to make the matter worse, animals reproductive development too, will be stunted if exposed to BPA. Another strange phenomenon was discovered by HSPH after another research was done by researchers from HSPH- 77 Harvard College students were ordered to drink cold beverages from stainless steel bottles for one week and provided urine sample as an effort to minimize BPA exposure. After the culmination of this Washout period, he participants were then entrusted with the obligation of drinking cold beverages from PC bottles for 7 days and provided urine sample. Instead of observing the BPA concentration, the spotlight was focused on the students urinary concentrations for the first time which were increased by 69% after they drank with PC bottles. However, the final result cannot clearly indicate that whether the escalating in urine concentration is good or bad to the user. Thus, even though BPA had taken a toll in our health, countries at every single nook and corner of the world always try to take tern and serious prompt in remedying this problem, as to create a more sustainable environment for us to live with. In the context of minimizing BPA, Canada prohibited the use of this chemical in PC baby bottles in 2008 (HSPH, 2009). On the other hand, Gurd (2007) mentioned that Europe also took initiative to ban all products made for children below age 3 that contained BPA in 2006. Later in 2007, a billion dollar class action suit was commenced against some US baby bottles company, such as Gerber and Playtex. By that, Gurd ad also suggested some alternatives like replacing PC plastics bottles with glass brass while avoiding to be exposed to sunlight, and always checks the recycling symbol on your plastics-made item. Moreover, Walsh (2010) also sincerely appreciated peoples effort in reducing BPA as he cited in his passage that, In January 2010, the Obama Administration launched a $30 million study of BPA over concern that children in the early stages of development are exposed to the chemical. In contrast, Walsh realized that some industry defenders raised the conflict that xposure of human to BPA was still considered to be well below the safety levels set by the government. Besides, they declared that the health agencies around the world claimed that BPA was safe for humans and excreted within one day or so. However, its ubiquity also proved that human were exposed to BPA almost every day. No matter what, Judging from different aspects, plastics bottles can be helpful sometimes due to the portability and characteristics that do not break when we drop them. In conclusion, people in this millennium always tend to neglect the importance of nderstanding the composition of the objects they used every day. PC plastics bottle which contains BPA chemical can be detrimental in depriving one from being hale and hearty. Hence, there is a need to rectify this problem immediately with the help of cooperation among countries and implementation of scientific knowledge in finding solutions to minimize BPA exposure to human. It is an undeniable fact that if we can find ways to decrease our dependence on plastic-made object, human future will definitely undergo dramatic change, being free from BPA, a harmful chemical.