Plastic As An Endocrine Disruptor: Bs?

[TheBeard]

I keep reading to ward off plastic containers, bottles, packaging, cutlery, and to avoid seafood as it has quite some plastic in it.

All these mainstream articles keep repeating the same mantra, that plastics are endocrine disruptors and that they act as estrogens in the body.

However I never found any study talking about the magnitude of this problem (does it increase estro by 0.2%? 2%? 20%?)

As we now know, the soy phytoestrogenissue was way overblown as phytoestrogens only have 1/1000th of the potency of actual estrogens.

Is it the same for plastic, and are we worrying for nothing?

 

[Ella]

How much time have you spent reviewing the research literature?

 

[TheBeard]

How much time have you spent reviewing the research literature?

Not much, a few searches on ncbi were enough to know there is no quantitative data as far as actual estrogen activity in the body

 

[Ella]

overblown as phytoestrogens only have 1/1000th of the potency of actual estrogens.

The research is indicating that extremely low levels of xenoestrogens such as BPA may be more disconcerting than the higher concentrations. It is not only BPA, but the synergistic effect of all estrogenic compounds combined we are exposed too.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1559325815610582

As a whole, it is very difficult to determine at which point in time and at which concentrations BPA increases the risk of pathologies. As correctly stated by Watson et al96 “extrapolation of results from very high doses to predict lowest effective doses is no longer acceptable”. Thus, an increase in information about responses and action mechanisms of low concentration BPA is expected in the near future. Until that time, the application of the precaution principle in use of BPA is, in this context, pivotal.

 

[MigFon]

Look at Table I of the study below. Low to moderate exposures to Phtalates have a stronger correlation with a higher incidence of testicular cancer than the high to very high exposures.
"TESTICULAR CANCER AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO POLYVINYL CHLORIDE PLASTICS: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY"
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ijc.11709