Saturday 28 October 2017

Plastic, one of the most preferred materials in today's industrial world is posing serious threat to environment and consumer's health in many direct and indirect ways. Exposure to harmful chemicals during manufacturing, leaching in the stored food items while using plastic packages or chewing of plastic teethers and toys by children are linked with severe adverse health outcomes such as cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive effects etc. Promotion of plastics substitutes and safe disposal of plastic waste requires urgent and definitive action to take care of this potential health hazard in future. The advent of fuel based plastics has revolutionized the industrial world and there is no area of manufacturing which is untouched by plastics. Convenience and cost factors have pitch forked plastics as the most preferred material of choice till recently, a rethinking about its impact on environment and sustainability is slowly putting a brake on its continued use. While cheap petroleum fuels from which most plastics are derived was once justified to introduce them in place of traditional materials like glass and metals, this plea cannot hold any more since the cost of non-renewable fossil fuels increased several fold during the last 3 decades. Research based on plastics proves their injurious nature towards human health in many direct or indirect ways. Phthalates or phthalate esters are esters of phthalic acid mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility) in Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). PVC is a widely used material, including extensive use in toys and other children's products such as chewy teethers, soft figures and inflatable toys. Di (2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di-isononylphthalate (DINP), di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP), benzyl - butyl - phthalate (BBP) and di-n- octyl- phthalate (DNOP) are phthalates mainly used in converting polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from a hard plastic to a flexible plastic. Phthalates migrate into the air, into food and into people including babies in their mother's wombs. Phthalates can be released from soft PVC by surface contact, especially where mechanical pressure is applied e.g. during chewing of a PVC teether). Release of phthalates during manufacture, use and disposal of PVC products, in addition to their use as additives in ink, perfumes etc. has lead to their ubiquitous distribution and abundance in the global environment.

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