Plastics Industry Concerned About Phthalates - You Should Be Too
PlasticsNet.com is a plastics industry resource providing timely information for plastics industry professionals. In an article titled, "Toward Safer Plastics That Lock In Potentially Harmful Plasticizers" published on August 12, 2010, they clearly state that phthalates leaching from plastics are a potential health risk for consumers.
"Phthalates are the mainstay plasticizers. Unfortunately, they migrate to the surface of the plastic over time and escape into the environment. As a result, PVC plastics become less flexible and durable. In addition, people who come into contact with the plastics face possible health risks. The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2009 banned use of several phthalate plasticizers for use in manufacture of toys and child care articles."
It is a wonderful thing that the plastics industry is working toward making their products safer and protect the health of their customers. However, the cleaning and body care industry is ignoring the potential risks. Phthalates are used as fragrance components in cleaning and body care products and this plasticizer is used to make products, such as lotions, creams and gels, flow smoothly. A little common sense: If the plastics industry is concerned about phthalates leaching out of solid consumer goods, how will the cleaning and body care industry tackle this challenge with liquid products that are heated and rubbed all over our bodies when we use personal care products such as shampoo, soap, lotion, cream, shaving cream and deodorant? Cleaning products, such as dish soap, laundry soap, etc are used throughout our homes creating a toxic spreading phthalates all over everything we own. Currently, phthalates are included in food storage containers and food storage bags. This harmful plasticizer leaches into our food from thees containers. It may be prudent to reduce or eliminate the use of these plastics for food storage to reduce the health risks, such as asthma and cancers, from chemicals that even the plastics industry admits has the potential to harm human health.
For complete information and follow links to study excerpts regarding the health risks associated with phthalate exposure hosted on the National Library of Medicine web site:
Phthalates and Your Health
The Reality of Breast Cancer
Causes of Asthma in Your Home
Learn more about Phthalate exposure and strategies you can use to reduce your risk by reading my most recent newsletter: All About Phthalates
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 The Reality of Breast Cancer
This image is not the reality of breast cancer. It's an advertisement with a perfect, healthy breast with a pretty pink bow.
Author: Emily Patterson
Date Created: February 18, 2010
Over 100 Women Will Die from Breast Cancer - Today and every day. Over 100 dead women a day. More than 40,000 women a year die from breast cancer.
Over 35,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this week.
More than 192,000 are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
SEER statistics
Can linings, plastics, body care products, cleaning products - are they giving you breast cancer? Hmmm. The scientists think so... Look at ALL of those studies below that show the chemicals in body care products, can linings and home furnishings are major risk factor for developing breast cancer. Even worse, the risks start from exposure in the womb.
Here's the latest news on the cause of breast cancer: An interesting, and frightening, article on BPA. It's in plastics, the linings of cans and other food containers and leaches into food. It causes breast cancer, causes genetic damage to babies while in the womb when the mother is exposed. Companies don't want to use safe alternatives because they are worried that people ......will get upset over an increase in cost of about 20 cents per can of food. Question is, which is more epensive to consumers, 20 cents more a frigging can or the health care costs of breast amputation and chemotherapy? Most cans of food contain controversial BPA - Food safety- msnbc.com
Even more alarming: New studies show that xenoestrogens, such as phthalates, bisphenol A, parabens and geineston in soy (a phyto-estrogen (plant estrogen)), makes it more difficult to treat breast estrogen dependent cancer cells:
One of the problems with the synthetic fragrances and plastics is that they interfere with breast cancer treatments since they mimic estrogen in the body.
Bisphenol A induces a profile of tumor aggressiveness in high-risk cells from breast cancer patients.
Xenoestrogen effects of chemical compounds: influence on the breast cancer
Xenoestrogens modulate vascular endothelial growth factor secretion in breast cancer cells through an estrogen receptor-dependent mechanism.
Breast Cancer Awareness
Breast cancer awareness information and advertisements focus on mammograms, monthly exams, annual exams and breast cancer awareness. I think by now we're all *aware* of breast cancer. So many pretty ads, pretty boobies with pink ribbons on top. Truthfully, it's enough to make me want to puke. Why isn't the focus on prevention?
 This is Breast Cancer
Here's more pictures: yahoo image search for mastectomy. Go look at the reality of this horrendous, painful, disfiguring cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control, breast cancer is one of the top ten leading causes of death and the second leading death by cancer for women in the United States.
 Causes and Risk Factors
The most popular risk factor is heredity. However, recently that doesn't matter because there are so many first generation breast cancer victims that the original heredity theory doesn't hold water anymore. Getting older was another risk factor mentioned on the CDC web site. I think you'll agree that's kind of generalized. Some of the women in the pictures located on the yahoo search link I posted above were young, really young. Another generalized risk factor was being overweight. If you look at the pictures, most of the women were not overweight. All I see is that basically, there isn't a known cause. Old and fat just doesn't cut it when you look at the images.
Other risk factors include hormone replacement therapy, birth control pills and early menstruation. Here are some studies that show that there is a possible connection between chemicals used in the home that mimic hormones when absorbed by the body which have been shown to cause early menstruation. A little logic here... hormone replacement therapy and chemicals that mimic hormones when absorbed by the body, birth control pills and chemicals that mimic hormones when absorbed by the body, early menstruation associated with specific chemicals that mimic hormones when absorbed by the body. Don't take my word for it, here's the studies...
NOTE: Here's the Wikipedia definition of xenoestrogen
NOTE: A bill to ban specific phthalates from children's toys was passed in August of 2008. Phthalates and Your Health
Does breast cancer start in the womb?
To assess whether bisphenol A induces mammary gland neoplasia, we chose a rat model because it more closely mimics the human disease than mouse models. Examination of the mammary glands of Wistar/Furth rats during early adulthood revealed that gestational exposure to bisphenol A induced the development of pre-neoplastic lesions and carcinoma in situ in the absence of any additional treatment aimed at increasing tumour development. Emerging epidemiological data reveal an increased incidence of breast cancer in women exposed to diethylstilboestrol during gestation. Hence, both animal experiments and epidemiological data strengthen the hypothesis that foetal exposure to xenooestrogens may be an underlying cause of the increased incidence of breast cancer observed over the last 50 years.
PMID: 18226065 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Xenoestrogens modulate vascular endothelial growth factor secretion in breast cancer cells through an estrogen receptor-dependent mechanism.
Environmental chemicals may affect human health by disrupting endocrine function. Their possible role in the mammary gland and breast tumors is still unknown. Previous studies have demonstrated that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a key factor in angiogenesis and tumor progression, is an estrogen-regulated gene. We analyzed whether VEGF expression is regulated by different xenoestrogens in several breast cancer cells, MELN (derived from MCF-7) and MELP (derived from MDA-MB-231) and stably expressing estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha); these cell lines stably express estrogen response element (beta-globin)-luciferase. Genistein, bisphenol A (BPA), 4-(tert-octyl)phenol (OP), dieldrin, and several phthalates, including benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) and di-ethyl-2-hexyle phthalate (DEHP), were first shown to be estrogenic.
PMID: 18252963 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Adverse effects of the model environmental estrogen diethylstilbestrol are transmitted to subsequent generations.
Together, our data point out the unique sensitivity of the developing organism to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the occurrence of long-term effects after developmental exposure, and the possibility for adverse effects to be transmitted to subsequent generations.
PMID: 16690809 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Assessing the effects of endocrine disruptors in the National Children's Study.
It is hypothesized that in utero and early childhood exposures to EDs may be responsible, at least in part, for decreases in semen quality; increasing incidence of congenital malformations of the reproductive organs, such as hypospadias; increasing incidence of testicular cancer; and acceleration of onset of puberty in females.
PMID: 14527850 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Effects of environmental agents on the attainment of puberty: considerations when assessing exposure to environmental chemicals in the National Children's Study.
The apparent decline in the age at puberty in the United States raises a general level of concern because of the potential clinical and social consequences of such an event. Nutritional status, genetic predisposition (race/ethnicity), and environmental chemicals are associated with altered age at puberty. The Exposure to Chemical Agents Working Group of the National Children's Study (NCS) presents an approach to assess exposure for chemicals that may affect the age of maturity in children.
PMID: 16079085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Bisphenol A at low nanomolar doses confers chemoresistance in estrogen receptor-alpha-positive and -negative breast cancer cells.
CONCLUSIONS: BPA at environmentally relevant doses reduces the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents. These data provide considerable support to the accumulating evidence that BPA is hazardous to human health.
PMID: 16079085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Paraben esters: review of recent studies of endocrine toxicity, absorption, esterase and human exposure, and discussion of potential human health risks.
With the continued use of parabens in the majority of bodycare cosmetics, there is a need to carry out detailed evaluation of the potential for parabens, together with other oestrogenic and genotoxic co-formulants of bodycare cosmetics, to increase female breast cancer incidence, to interfere with male reproductive functions and to influence development of malignant melanoma which has also recently been shown to be influenced by oestrogenic stimulation.
PMID: 18484575 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Significance of the detection of esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (parabens) in human breast tumours.
The parabens are used as antimicrobial preservatives in underarm deodorants and antiperspirants and in a wide range of other consumer products. The parabens also have inherent oestrogenic and other hormone related activity (increased progesterone receptor gene expression). As oestrogen is a major aetiological factor in the growth and development of the majority of human breast cancers, it has been previously suggested by Darbre that parabens and other chemicals in underarm cosmetics may contribute to the rising incidence of breast cancer.
PMID: 14745840 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
These chemicals are absorbed through the skin like a nicotine patch. You inhale them just like carbon monoxide. You bathe with them, wash your hair with them, rub them all over your body when you apply lotion. Even more disgusting, is that you pour them all over your children, your lovely little babies.
Things to avoid: Any ingredient with the word 'something-paraben' for example: Methylparaben, Propylparaben, 'Fragrance (Parfum)' indicates the chemical class of phthalates and can be up to 20% of the product.
The products in my web store don't contain ingredients that increase the risk of breast cancer. No parabens, unlike Johnson and Johnson baby products, no synthetic fragrances which contain a blend of phthalates, nothing that will make you sick.
The two books I sell contain all of the information you need to make everything naturally extremely easily and inexpensive. You'll save more money making a few simple things yourself than buying even cheap conventional products. I wrote the books with the recipes I used since I couldn't afford to buy 'green' products when I switched. It took me years to write the books, you can have all the information in minutes.
I could go on for hours with study after study. There are hundreds of them that suggest a connection between breast cancer and the chemicals in cleaning and body care products. If you continue to use conventional products that contain the chemicals that are associated with breast cancer for yourself and your offspring, you are increasing the risk of breast cancer every time you use them.
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