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Since the regular news agency will not likely give you this important
message, I am forwarding it to you. I get this from a very busy e-mail
list organized through Sierra Club. More can be found in the book OUR
STOLEN FUTURE by Drs. Theo Colborn and Pete Myers.
David Wimberly
---------- Forwarded message ----------
HORMONE-DISRUPTING TOXIN FOUND IN POLYSTYRENE CONTAINERS
Apr. 27/98
Kyodo
TOKYO -- Officials of the National Institute of Health Sciences in Japan
were cited as saying Sat. that polystyrene containers, commonly used in
the packaging of instant noodles and fresh foods in supermarkets, have
been found to contain toxic substances known to disrupt the reproductive
functions of animals and humans.
The story says the substances, grouped under the term ''environmental
hormones,'' may contaminate food through absorption. The chemicals,
which mimic hormones, are styrene polymers called styrene dimer and
styrene trimer. Styrene, a colorless, toxic liquid used in making
plastics and rubbers, is also known as phenylethylene or vinylbenzene.
The institute's study is the first to confirm through lab tests the
possible elution of styrene foam, a commonly used material whose
residual effects have thus far escaped close examination.
Yoko Kawamura, head of an institute office in charge of food additives,
said tests have found high concentrations of the polymers in 25 types of
polystyrene containers, with an average of 9,509 micrograms and a
maximum of 21,430 micrograms per gram. One microgram equals 1-millionth
of a gram.
In a series of tests, researchers simulated the effect of high-fat foods
in cups and bowls found to contain the highest concentrations of the
toxins in order to determine how much of the chemical compound would
dissolve into an organic solvent. They found that no less than 43.9
micrograms of styrene trimer dissolved in 1 square centimeter of the
material.
Impact resistant polystyrene was found to have contained particularly
high amounts of dissolved substances. Tests did not detect any traces of
the substances in containers holding water heated to 60 C. The institute
will announce the test results at a meeting of the Food Hygienic Society
of Japan in Tokyo starting May 13.
''While we do not know much about polymers as a hormone-disrupting
substance, we have to be careful about the presence of the substances in
containers that come into direct contact with the food we eat,''
Kawamura said.
She said she wants to conduct more tests to find out how much of the
dissolved substances contaminate food.
Last year, an Environmental Agency research team counted more than 67
environmental hormones as having an adverse effect on the normal
functioning of hormonal systems.
One type of toxin, known as bisphenol-A, affects a living organism by
mimicking estrogen or sex hormones and causing hormonal reactions like
lowering sperm production in males and reducing the number of full-term
pregnancies.
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