Info to help us live in our plastic world

Wditor's note: Charleston freelance writer Sally Watts has been chronicling her weight-loss journey in The Post and Courier since February. She is expecting a child, and will be exploring and relating local stories about weight and health-related issues until she resumes her own weight-loss program in the spring. Read past columns at www.charleston.net.

"Just one word. Plastics." — from "The Graduate"

I'm exhausted.

And it's not because I'm trying to balance work and home and family, or because of the post-holiday slump, or because I'm just plain getting older. (There is something terribly incongruous about pulling gray hairs out of your head when you're pregnant.)

It's because every time I think I've got a good groove going, something comes up and I realize that, once again, I'm behind the curve.

Recently, a group of us were discussing family meals, and someone mentioned plastic containers.

Silly me, I thought they were proposing a Tupperware party.

It wasn't until the majority voiced their similar opinions that I realized that everyone except me has executed the culinary equivalent of the Salem witch hunt in their kitchens.

Plastic is evil, have you heard?

I knew that plastics can be problematic environmentally if not recycled, and I've heard of replacing plastic water bottles with glass or other safer materials. And I knew that plastic baby bottles should be replaced with glass or those that don't contain BPA. I haven't been living under a rock.

But I had no idea the lengths to which an informed, responsible consumer should apparently be going to in terms of eliminating the amount and type of plastic goods they use. I'm not an especially reactionary type, and I think that as a lot, we Southerners tend to be fairly relaxed when it comes to extreme safety measures ("Well, you've gotta die of something,") but the evidence and research on plastics is compelling enough to consider.

With the assistance of Professor Google, I found some guidelines to help me understand exactly what I should be looking for in terms of basic food safety.

The first step was to locate all the labels on my plastic cups and containers. Typically the number labels are found inside the triangular recycling symbol on the bottom of the item.

For reasons that are too scientific and long-winded to go into in a short column, suffice it to say that numbers 3, 6, and 7 are generally considered to be seriously bad news.

The good news is that I didn't find these numbers anywhere in my house. Ignoramus that I apparently am, I expected to have to call in a hazmat team to remove the mountains of hazardous plastic materials hiding in my house. But I could find nary a 3, 6, or 7.

I found that consumers should stay away from styrene (Styrofoam) goods whenever possible. They also should throw away any older plastics that aren't labeled, or at least discontinue them for food storage. Children's melamine plates are no longer considered to be safe by many experts, and kids should not eat off vintage or unlabeled plastic sources.

Many sources suggest that consumers avoid using any plastic in the microwave, because extreme temperatures cause harmful chemicals in plastics to leach into the food. Others say that as long as the product is labeled as safe for microwaves, they're nothing to worry about.

Some sources claim that consumers should entirely eliminate plastic storage containers, plates, cups and other dinnerware. Deciding what to believe is a judgment call that individual consumers should make after doing their own research.

I frequently make tea by running a plastic cup full of water and a tea bag through the microwave. I knew this method was declasse, but I didn't know it could be harmful.

I was not able to locate any definitive evidence that I'm serving myself a nice glass of carcinogens using this method, but since it's simple enough to switch to using a glass measuring cup, I'll make the change.

On the other hand, I know lots of people who have replaced all their plates, cups and storage containers with glass, pottery or china.

I applaud their commitment, but when I run the cost/benefit analysis of having three kids using real plates and glasses every day, I'm thinking that the likelihood of multiple glass shard related trips to the ER might be more of a distinct threat to my kids and my sanity than the possibility that they'd be exposed to low-level carcinogens and hormonal disturbances from plastics.

For now, I'll use or purchase goods with a "safe" plastic label for my family. But who knows. In this era of fast-paced information bombardment, I may be convinced to re-evaluate that decision tomorrow.

Here are some suggested resources for more information on plastic safety:

--www.plasticsinfo.org.

--www.bisphenolafree.org.

--www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2002/602_plastic.html.

--www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=77083.

E-mail Sally Watts at sallycwatts@gmail.com.

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