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In
By Miryam Wiley
MetroWest Daily News
It’s one thing to get an e-mail that warns us about the dangers of
warming up foods in plastic containers in the microwave.
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It’s
a completely different thing to see up close two respected scientists from
Tufts University and hear them say there is nothing one can do overnight to
avoid the toxic effects of plastics, because they are everywhere!
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Like
me, Sara Azzam, the director of the Wellesley Cancer Prevention Project,
received the e-mail warning about plastics in microwaves and the leak of
dioxins -- a name given to very toxic chemicals created by industries that use chlorine.
But upon re-distribution to her friends, she was e-mailed back information that
nothing was conclusive and that she should check urbanlegends.com.
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She
did. She also brought the results to the board meeting of WCPP, and learned
that someone on the board could connect her to the scientists behind the
research linking plastics and toxics. WCPP’s mission
is to educate the public about the connection between cancer and the
environment.
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It
was so that Dr. Carlos Sonnenschein, a professor of
anatomy and cellular biology, and Dr. Ana Soto, a professor of cell biology,
spoke to a group of about 60 people gathered this past Tuesday in Pendleton
Hall at
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Listening
to them was gut-wrenching. They know from their experiments what we all wonder
about and would like to believe is not true. The whole population of the
country (and planet) is being exposed to chemicals that have not been carefully
tested for safety.
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Dr.
Soto talked about environmental estrogens (or xenoestrogens)
and how these chemicals, present in several of the plastics used for food
packaging or lining of food cans, may actually be leaking estrogens into the
food we eat. Estrogens are linked to cancer and birth defects.
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She
showed slides of the mammary glands of laboratory mice that were exposed to
small amounts of bisphenol A ( a
component in plastics)and explained that the chemical induced cell
proliferation. While cancer has not yet been observed in those animals, she
explained that the risk is real and it may indicate what is already happening
among us.
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"Mammographic density is one of the (breast cancer) risk
factors in humans," she said.
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Her
original interest in the subject came from the observation of some cancer cells
she was preserving in her laboratory. The container she used, she thought, was
stable, and would not promote cell growth. But in fact, the cells grew. After
struggling for a while to try to understand why the cells were growing, she
decided to investigate the composition of the laboratory’s test tubes and had
difficulty obtaining the information from the manufacturer.
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She
then decided to send it off to a private laboratory and discovered that there
was estrogen in the plastics.
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The
group of people gathered that night tried in many ways to hear from the
scientists that there are ways one can take precautions with small changes at
home. But the scientists, whose work and expertise is sought after by European
Union, where the standards are much higher, did not offer any easy solutions.
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"I
don’t have a ’go-out-and-buy-this’ solution," said Dr. Sonnenschein.
However, he encouraged people to organize and seek a change in policy.
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"It’s
the government that will have to say: ’You will not sell a product that has
estrogen compounds,’" Sonnenschein said.
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Dr.
Soto said that while we may skip microwaving in plastic, there are so many
other ways through which we are using plastics, that at the end of the day we
don’t know if we have avoided it 5 percent or 95 percent.
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She
encouraged all to read the report "State of the Evidence" subtitled
"What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?"
edited by Nancy Evans for the Breast Cancer Fund. The report states that
studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that
"Americans of all ages carry a body burden of 116 chemicals, some of them
banned for more than two decades because of toxicity."
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The
Report highlights recent research and makes a call for change, citing the steps
taken by the European Union with its new policy known as REACH (Registration,
Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) that is being implemented throughout
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While
the news was indeed sobering, Azzam said she feels encouraged because she sees
some mobilization already going on.
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"I
think the solution is to go home and get active," she said. "People
want to have a solution that they can go home and implement, and this is it.
They just passed a bill for safer cosmetics in
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We
have to, or else. Listen to the experts: "Those of us who are here are not
going to be exposed very much," Sonnenschein
said. "It’s our children and grandchildren."
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(To reach Miryam Wiley, e-mail inamericacolumn@aol.com or write to