Plastic coated food has carcinogens

Researchers are suspecting that plastic-containing chemicals contain carcinogens. This explains why the perfluorooctanoic acid carcinogen (PFOA) is found in the blood of many people.

PFOA is used to produce non-stick cookware and anti-grease. It is found in many body blood samples around the world, with levels of about 30 nanograms per milliliter. This chemical does not decrease or disappear but will be excreted by humans. An advisory group from the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to classify PFOA into a group of abrasive and cancer-causing chemicals that are harmful to humans.

(Photo: TTO) But scientists still do not know which way PFOA can enter the human body. An experiment using a similar chemical called polyfluoroalkyl phosphate surfactants (PAPS) - a substance used to coat the outer layer of food wrap paper, preventing water and oil from spilling out indicates that the compound The same can seep out and enter food.

This finding has raised two issues to address. Whether PAPS can enter the blood in the intestinal tract and whether they can be broken down into PFOA in the human body?

People tried to put PAPS directly into the rat stomach at a dose of 200 milligrams for 1 kilogram of weight. For the next 15 days, they watched how PFOA and PAPS were in rat blood. The highest level is found in the blood of mice, and the animals that are not taken into PAPS are 2 nanograms in 1 gram (ng / g).

It is the exposure to PAPS that increases the amount of PFOA in the blood of mice. One of the surfactants, monoPAPS, has increased the concentration of PFOA by up to 34 ng / g. The remaining substance is diPAPS, which causes less effect but also increases the PAPS content by 3.8 ng / g. The results of this study are presented in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology.

Scientists conclude that the human body not only absorbs PAPS but it can also turn into a toxic compound easily found in the body's bloodstream.

According to Kurunthachalam Kannan, an environmental chemist at the New York State Department of Health, this study identified sources of infection from PFOA. Kannan also added that while PFOA's worries about human health are increasing, we need to identify other reasons why the human body is exposed to this compound. . He said that there may be many other sources of contact that we do not yet know.

If PFOA in the blood is produced by the body itself, the human contact intermediates themselves will also become very important. One of the intermediate chemicals may be more toxic than PFOA.

The team is currently assessing the toxicity of these intermediate chemicals. The group also plans to study the level of dispersion of PAPS in the environment.

TAM HA