The Types of Plastics Families Should Avoid – NYT Parenting

The Gist

There’s significant evidence that exposures to two types of chemicals found in plastics — phthalates and bisphenols — can affect health, especially if the exposure occurs in the womb or during early childhood.
According to the researchers I spoke with, existing government regulations are inadequate to protect us from these chemicals, but simple strategies — such as eating more whole foods, using less packaged or processed food, using metal or glass containers and avoiding plastics in the dishwasher or microwave — can reduce your exposure.
To decrease phthalates in your home, use a HEPA-filtered vacuum and avoid vinyl products like shower curtains.
For toys that go in your baby’s mouth, it’s safest to choose those made of wood or silicone.
Use personal care products that are fragrance- or phthalate-free. (Products labeled as “unscented” may still contain fragrance and aren’t necessarily free of phthalates.)

Take a look around your home and count the items that are made with or contain plastic. Then, consider the less obvious sources: the dust accumulating on your bookshelf, the linings of soup cans, food packaging, cosmetics, even your tap water and beer. Plastic is everywhere, and like many parents, I worry about the danger it poses to my kids’ health.

In a 2019 study, for instance, researchers screened 34 common plastic products — including plastic wraps, bags, food containers, drink bottles and place mats — and found that 74 percent of them tested positive for potentially toxic chemicals. While this study didn’t investigate whether the plastics were harmful to humans, it did indicate the need for more research. Together, the 34 products were found to contain 1,411 different chemical features, and the researchers were only able to match 18 percent of them with known chemicals. In other words, we hardly know what’s in many plastics, let alone how they might affect human health.

But the prospect of eliminating plastics from my life feels overwhelming.

Seeking clarity about how to triage, I spoke with four researchers, two of them pediatricians, who are studying how chemicals in plastic affect our health and why it’s worth reducing your family’s exposure to them. Here, some simple ways to do that.

What To Do

Plastics may look inert, but the chemicals inside them are not. “There are chemicals used in plastics that are not tightly bound to the material, which means they easily leach away, especially when plastics are heated or hot contents are put into them,” said Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatrician and researcher at the University of Washington and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

The types of chemicals in plastic that cause most concern are phthalates and bisphenols, said Dr. Leonardo Trasande, M.D., a pediatrician and researcher at NYU Langone Medical Center. Phthalates, which are typically added to plastics to make them pliable and soft, have been called “the everywhere chemical.” They’re found in children’s toys, plastic food wrap, vinyl flooring and personal care products like deodorants, nail polish, hair gels, shampoos, soaps and lotions. Bisphenols, including the most commonly known bisphenol-A (BPA), are more typically found in hard polycarbonate plastics such as water and juice bottles, food containers, eyeglass lenses and the linings in food and soda cans.

A large body of research suggests that phthalates and bisphenols can act as endocrine disruptors, meaning that they either mimic hormones in the body or interfere with their action. Even low blood concentrations can have an effect, according to Dr. Trasande, and they can impact multiple organs at once, especially during sensitive periods of development like fetal development, infancy and early childhood. The chemicals can pass from mother to fetus during pregnancy and to her baby via breast milk.

The early troubling studies of phthalates and bisphenols were on rodents, but more recently, researchers have begun linking the chemicals to worrying effects on humans, said Dr. Trasande. For example, many rodent studies have found that exposure to higher levels of phthalates during pregnancy can decrease the production of testosterone, a hormone that plays a critical role in genital development. Human studies have found that baby boys who were exposed to higher phthalate levels during fetal development had shorter distances between their anuses and genitals — a measure linked to lower testosterone levels and semen quality later in life. In adults, higher phthalate exposures have been associated with lowered sperm counts (in men) and lower levels of thyroid hormones (in mothers during pregnancy and in their newborns). Later in life, such exposures have been linked with behavior problems and asthma in kids. Exposure to BPA, which can mimic estrogen — another hormone important to reproductive development and function — has been linked to reduced fertility in men and women, later puberty in girls, earlier puberty in boys, obesity in children and teens and behavioral problems in children.

While the research is compelling and alarming, the science is ongoing, and there is still some uncertainty about the magnitude of risk. Some findings, particularly those on the effects of BPA, are inconsistent and controversial. “What we’re talking about now is this kind of gray zone where some of us feel like we have enough evidence to be concerned,” said Kim Harley, Ph.D., a reproductive epidemiologist and associate director of the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health at the University of California Berkeley. “We can’t say 100 percent that plastics are going to cause harm to your baby,” she said, but the research is convincing enough that it’s worth trying to avoid these chemicals when you can.
Because of the lack of sufficient government regulations surrounding chemicals in food and plastics, said Dr. Sathyanarayana, the pediatrician from Seattle, the burden is on people to decide for themselves what is safe. She and Dr. Trasande, on behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics, have called for better federal regulations to protect kids from plastics and food additives.

Figuring out what to avoid can feel overwhelming in a world awash in plastic, but a little reduction can go a long way. Phthalates and bisphenols don’t stay in your body permanently, so making changes has an immediate effect. “If you reduce your exposure, you can wash out these chemicals from your body within a matter of days,” Dr. Harley said. It’s impossible to completely eliminate such chemicals from your life, however, so go about it in a way that makes sense for you, said Dr. Sathyanarayana.

The more steps there are between farm and table, the more chances for chemicals found in things like plastic tubing or storage containers to find their way into your food, said Dr. Sathyanarayana. Processed meals, such as those purchased from fast food restaurants or grocery stores (think boxed macaroni and cheese), can be convenient and necessary on occasion, but can contain high levels of phthalates. Studies also suggest that higher-fat foods — like certain meat and dairy products — can accumulate more phthalates than others. Bisphenols lurk in the linings of cans, so soups and sauces that are packed in cartons tend to be safer choices; as are fresh or frozen fruits and veggies. (The plastic bags used for frozen produce don’t contain phthalates or bisphenols, and cold temperatures make leaching of chemicals from plastic much less likely, Dr. Sathyanarayana said.)

Few studies have directly tested how much these changes in food choices affect overall exposure to BPA and phthalates, but one study of just 20 people from 2011 showed that when participants switched from their regular diets to one of fresh foods not packaged in plastic or cans, their urinary concentrations of BPA dropped by 66 percent and phthalates dropped by 53 to 56 percent.
The more steps there are between farm and table, the more chances for chemicals found in things like plastic tubing or storage containers to find their way into your food, said Dr. Sathyanarayana. Processed meals, such as those purchased from fast food restaurants or grocery stores (think boxed macaroni and cheese), can be convenient and necessary on occasion, but can contain high levels of phthalates. Studies also suggest that higher-fat foods — like certain meat and dairy products — can accumulate more phthalates than others. Bisphenols lurk in the linings of cans, so soups and sauces that are packed in cartons tend to be safer choices; as are fresh or frozen fruits and veggies. (The plastic bags used for frozen produce don’t contain phthalates or bisphenols, and cold temperatures make leaching of chemicals from plastic much less likely, Dr. Sathyanarayana said.)

Few studies have directly tested how much these changes in food choices affect overall exposure to BPA and phthalates, but one study of just 20 people from 2011 showed that when participants switched from their regular diets to one of fresh foods not packaged in plastic or cans, their urinary concentrations of BPA dropped by 66 percent and phthalates dropped by 53 to 56 percent.
Bisphenols can hide in the plastics we use to store food and drinks, so when possible, use metal or glass versions of baby bottles, sippy cups, food storage containers and water bottles. The Food and Drug Administration banned BPA from baby bottles and sippy cups in 2012 and in infant formula packaging in 2013, but some companies have replaced it with similar chemicals, said Dr. Trasande, so a product labeled “bisphenol A-free doesn’t necessarily mean safe.”

When you use plastic, look at the recycling code on the bottom for clues about what’s in it. Dr. Trasande recommended avoiding items labeled 3 for phthalates, 6 for styrene and 7 for bisphenols. (Styrene, which is found in Styrofoam and other plastic products, is “reasonably anticipated” to be a human carcinogen, according to the National Institutes of Health. Though styrene levels are generally low in food, it’s still worth avoiding, according to Dr. Trasande and the A.A.P.) Dr. Trasande also recommended tossing plastics that are scratched or showing signs of wear and avoiding plastic wrap, which can contain phthalates.
Phthalates can be found in glues, adhesives (such as those found on tape), carpet backings, vinyl shower curtains and floors, and other soft pliable plastics, said Joseph Braun, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Brown University’s School of Public Health. These chemicals can wind up in the dust in your home, which is why Dr. Braun recommended buying a HEPA-filtered vacuum to filter out the fine particles. A vacuum without a filter just blows the fine particles out the back end, Dr. Braun explained, “and you’ve now heated up all those phthalates and other stuff that’s in your carpet and shot it back out all over your house.”

Cleaning up phthalate-containing dust is even more important when you have a baby crawling around. “Infants and very young children consume a lot more dust and dirt than we do just because of their hand to mouth activity,” said Dr. Braun. Phthalates can also be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
Phthalates used to be in soft plastic toys, but they were banned in 2008 from toys in the United States. “New plastic toys shouldn’t have phthalates in them,” Dr. Harley said. Still, if your baby is in that stage from 6 months to a year when they want to put everything in their mouth, try to direct them toward wooden or silicone toys. Simply playing with plastic toys is fine, said Dr. Sathyanarayana.
Cosmetics, nail polish, shampoo, body wash, lotions and powders, including those made for babies, often contain phthalates. A 2008 study of 163 2-to-28-month-olds by Dr. Sathyanarayana and her colleagues found that most of the group had phthalates in their urine. They also found that the babies who had been exposed to more baby powder, lotion and shampoo in the past 24 hours had greater amounts of phthalates in their urine than those who were exposed to less — an association that was strongest in babies younger than 8 months, perhaps because of their thinner skin and smaller body size.

Phthalates are often in the fragrances that are added to these products, so choose products labeled as “fragrance-free” or “phthalate-free” — especially if you’re using them on your baby. It’s also a good idea to avoid using them on yourself if you’re trying to conceive (whether you’re male or female), are pregnant or are breastfeeding. Keep in mind that products labeled “unscented” may still contain fragrance and aren’t guaranteed to be phthalate-free. The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database is a useful resource for identifying phthalate-free products.

Alice Callahan is a health and science journalist, mom of two and the author of “The Science of Mom: A Research-Based Guide to Your Baby’s First Year.”