Remember back when most everything that couldn't be sold as is or in boxes, came in glass containers? I remember a little town down river from my paternal grandparents' home that had a glass bottle manufacturing factory. We drove right by it on our way to Grandma's house. Now it seems that glass containers are getting to be a rarity and plastic has taken over. Glass was the perfect sanitary container that didn't leach hardly anything bad into the contents. That is after they lowered the lead levels in the glass. A lot of older drinking glasses and goblets contained a lot of lead, although, if you just used them for drinking and didn't store anything in them, they should not cause any health problems.
In today's world, most food and liquid containers are made of plastic and newer fresh water plumbing is plastic. We drink water from plastic bottles and food comes in plastic lined cans. The average person eats or drinks from some form of plastic container every day. Therefore there is a worry that people consume way too much BPA which is found in the plastic that bottles and food containers are made from and in the linings of cans. BPA is known to be a cause of breast and prostate cancers, among other health problems.
There was a scientific study done to see if BPA was as bad as thought and if it did get into your body just from drinking and eating from plastic containers. Twenty people who switched from canned and plastic-stored foods to fresh items for three days had their BPA levels drop sixty-six percent. When they went back to their regular diets, their BPA levels shot back up. This shows that the majority of BPA exposure is from food packaging. So, what about other types of plastic? Who knows what health risks are involved with them. My opinion is that plastics are a product of the modern world and the human body is not equipped to handle the consumption of them, even very small amounts. Drink from glass containers and have a great day, you hear?
That is scary. How do you repackage fresh foods that come in plastic containers, i.e., fresh berries, grapes, etc. Or how do you store fresh vegetables such as greens?
ReplyDeleteI guess we have to use unleaded glass jars. Bell jars with lids, maybe? I try to eat everything so there are no left-overs (grin)
DeleteBest to get your daily requirements from a mason jar. Now I know what you're thinking, but I'm talking about canning fruits, vegetables and venison. An article in yesterday's paper said there's BPA in the coating they use on cash register receipts, so avoid chewing on them or using it as dental floss.
ReplyDeleteI raise the mason jaw to you. . . full of fruit you understand. . .
DeleteI quit using plastic containers to store leftovers in quite a few years ago, and use glass for that... and to microwave leftovers (yes, I use a microwave).... but I drink a lot of bottled (in plastic bottles) tea and water. Have wondered about teflon coated cookware.... usually use the old fashioned non-coated kind... used to use cast iron. But then... isn't there always something we have to worry about?
ReplyDeleteWe just can't win. With BPA, Teflon, etc. and all the chemicals that they treat food with, I guess at my age I am almost already embalmed, at least preserved fairly well (grin).
DeleteRemember that little paper seal on the tops of glass milk bottles? Back then, no one had ever heard of "tampering". What happened?
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember them. Life was different back in the good ole 1950's. I would go back there in a heart beat.
DeleteHi DD. Left-overs and other foods are stored in mason jars or glass dishes here. I don't even let my animals eat or drink out of anything plastic.
ReplyDelete'They' say that if those plastic water bottles get warm, then more BPA is released, and we don't know how those bottles of water have been stored. They can keep them, I won't drink out of them. We were given bottled water during Katrina, and I watered my plants with them. My plants didn't like it either.
My animals and I only drink water from my Brita jug, yes, I know it is plastic, but it's safer than the bottles.
My microwave is never used for cooking, just for warming coffee in a ceramic mug!
Happy Tails and Trails, Penny
I agree and you know that those plastic bottles of water would have been real warm when transported by truck.
DeleteThere are just so many things that can cause us harm and we usually don't get told about it until it's too late. I collect plastic containers so I can freeze food, or use it when I go out on picnics etc. It didn't even cross my mind that the plastic might be bad for you. Thanks for sharing the info Dizzy-Dick, I'm gonna have a quick look into this, as I may need to change my habits.
ReplyDeleteWith all the bad stuff that our bodies are exposed to daily, I don't think that plastic is that bad. Sometimes the convenience out ways the danger.
DeleteLast night my internet went out and my comment was lost in cyber space.
ReplyDeleteI wrote that I had just bought two cases of bottled water and had left them in my hot car and that in Terlingua they would probably be in my hot trunk.
After your post I will have to buy more beer and forget about the bottled water...but I will tell my mother that was not my intention until I read your post :D
Glad I could be of some help, even if it is just for an excuse to drink beer. Make sure it comes out of a bottle instead of a can lined with plastic.
Delete