more than 24,000 chemicals, including endocrine disruptors.
more than 24,000 chemicals, including endocrine disruptors.
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Widespread consumer demand for plastic products free of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical substance containing endocrine disrupters, has led to positive and significant changes in the manufacture of food, beverage and water containers. But a new study from Germany found that thousands of other potentially harmful chemicals continue to be released from plastic products into food and beverages, including substances that disrupt the hormonal system known as di (2-ethylhexyl) fumarate or DEHF, which is not regulated at all.
facts
Martin Wagner and his colleague, Jorg Oehlmann, of Frankfurt's Goethe University, in collaboration with a team of researchers from the German Federal Institute of Hydrology, learned this after tests on 18 bottled waters for the presence of endocrine disrupters. Using a state-of-the-art set of high-resolution biological analysis and mass spectrometry, the team identified 24,520 chemicals in the water tested. But a major concern, and the underlying reason for the study results, was DEHF, a chemical used to make plastic bottles more flexible. According to reports, DEPH has been clearly identified in the tested water as the most consistent and obvious culprit causing antiestrogenic activity. Despite the traces of more than 24,000 other potentially harmful chemicals, DEHF stands out as the only EDC capable of triggering this particular observed action, a very worrying observation. The published summary of the study shows that 13 of the 18 bottled water samples tested showed "significant" antiestrogenic activity, while 16 of the 18 samples inhibit the androgen receptors in the body by an exorbitant 90%.
Significant damages
But DEHF is apparently not the only one causing significant damage to the endocrine system, as the team could not identify this chemical as specifically anti-androgenic. What this suggests is that there is another chemical, or a chemical combination that emanates from bottled water and interferes with the body's chemical signalling systems, which are, of course, responsible for the production and use of hormones in the body. "We confirmed the identity and biological action of DEHF and the additional diacetylated fumarate and maleate isomers using authentic standards," the researchers report. "Since DEHF is antiestrogenic but not anti-androgenic, we can conclude that additional, as yet unidentified endocrine disrupters should contribute to the antagonistic effect of bottled water. » So, while these specific conclusions about DEHF are revolutionary, the general conclusion to be drawn from this research is that many more studies are needed to determine the types of chemicals that are leached from plastic in our food and water, not to mention the amounts of these products in what we absorb. And since the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the rest of the three-letter government agencies will probably never start conducting this important research, independent science will simply have to do it.
Significant damages
But DEHF is apparently not the only one causing significant damage to the endocrine system, as the team could not identify this chemical as specifically anti-androgenic. What this suggests is that there is another chemical, or a chemical combination that emanates from bottled water and interferes with the body's chemical signalling systems, which are, of course, responsible for the production and use of hormones in the body. "We confirmed the identity and biological action of DEHF and the additional diacetylated fumarate and maleate isomers using authentic standards," the researchers report. "Since DEHF is antiestrogenic but not anti-androgenic, we can conclude that additional, as yet unidentified endocrine disrupters should contribute to the antagonistic effect of bottled water. » So, while these specific conclusions about DEHF are revolutionary, the general conclusion to be drawn from this research is that many more studies are needed to determine the types of chemicals that are leached from plastic in our food and water, not to mention the amounts of these products in what we absorb. And since the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the rest of the three-letter government agencies will probably never start conducting this important research, independent science will simply have to do it.