Most food now comes in plastic packaging – and chronic exposure to these substances may be causing unknown health hazards, experts warn today.
One chemical, formaldehyde, is widely used in plastic bottles and table-ware even though at high levels it can cause cancer, according to a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Plastic wrappers may also include substances that disrupt hormone production, according to a team of environmental scientists.
They say that "far too little" is known about the long-term impact of these substances, especially on pregnant women.
They warn: “Whereas the science for some of these substances is being debated and policy makers struggle to satisfy the needs of stakeholders, consumers remain exposed to these chemicals daily, mostly unknowingly."
The experts, led by Dr Jane Muncke, Food Packaging Forum Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland, admit it will be difficult to study the effects of such widely used plastics.
But they call for population-based assessments and bio-monitoring to try to tease out links with problems such as cancer, obesity, diabetes and brain diseases.
Food packaging and migration of food contact materials: will epidemiologists rise to the neotoxic challenge? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 20 February 2014; doi:10.1136/jech-2013-202593 [abstract]
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