New Plastic Technology Limits Toxic Outgasing

It has been widely reported for decades that plastic water bottles and other consumer

products made with plastics are hazardous to humans and the environment. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. The amount of plastic produced and then discarded every day is staggering! In the US alone over 2.5 million water bottles are thrown away every HOUR! And that is just for the US and for water bottles, it doesn't include the rest of the world or the thousands of other plastic products that are manufactured then discarded. If it did the amount of plastic "garbage" would exceed 60 BILLION tons each year.

This plastic refuse clogs our landfills since it really doesn't break down plus much of it ends end in the country side and water ways where it damages the environment. In fact so much plastic has been dumped in the ocean that a "plastic vortex" has formed in the Pacific ocean that is a couple of kilometers across. The other reason is that most plastic contains additives that breakdown over time and "outgas" from the plastic products and enter humans causing serious health problems. These additives include BPA which is a hormone disruptor in humans and has been proven to cause reproductive problems in women and in recent study genetic alterations in mice! But in the midst of all this bad news there is some good for a change.

Researchers have come up with a way to prevent the outgassing of harmful chemicals from plastic so they do not enter humans or the environment and cause health problems. "The new technology prevents chemical leeching from certain plastics by stopping polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a commonly used plastic chemical, from migrating to the surface of plastics and escaping". Published in the journal Macromolecules the study is a huge break through and could change the way plastics are made including food packaging, toys and other consumer products.

In tests, the new technology completely prevents plasticizers from migrating to the outside of the plastic where it can be out gassed and keeps the plastic intact as originally intended. "This approach may open new ways to the preparation of flexible PVC with permanent plasticizer effect and zero migration," explains the article about the study. Since plasticizers can account for over 30% of the total weight of plastics this new process could save billions of pounds of plasticizers from entering humans and the environment at large.

If this new process does not prove to be harmful in itself, it could help the lives of millions of people who consume billions of tons of plastics each year.

by: Patrick Hayes

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