I appreciate this new concern for microplastics. Since I can remember I've always had a vague fears about using plastic Tupperware and plastic bottle but wasn't sure if it was unfounded. Turns out my (and many others) intuitions were correct.
> Most Plastic Products Release Estrogenic Chemicals: A Potential Health Problem That Can Be Solved
> Results: Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled—independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source—leached chemicals having reliably detectable EA, including those advertised as BPA free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than did BPA-containing products.
I have always postulated that the increase of estrogenic compounds may have some impact on what seems to be an utter surge of reported cases of gender dysphoria amongst others other disorders that typically arise when you mess with hormonal/endocrine systems. Has there been any scientific research done on this topic or is just viewed as an untouchable subject due to fear of backlash (which would be a shame if so)? It's no secret by now that we have been consuming large amounts of estrogenic compounds now in large amounts, whether it is indirectly through plastics and other industrial compounds, hormone-filled meats and dairy, other animal by-products, prescription of hormones, or more directly through the over-prescription and overuse of hormones and other drugs that have a pseudo-hormonal effect on our brains such as steroids (there is even hormones in our drinking water!) I just wonder if we are barking up a tree we have so little understanding of.
As an anecdote, I as a male suffered from gynecomastia. I did a lot of research. I learned what once used to be almost always guaranteed to be denied by insurance because it was considered purely cosmetic, is now so common insurances felt the need to cover it. So the insurance companies seem to have even caught whiff of something being "in the water" so to speak.
I wonder if we will look back in 50 years, just like some of us can point back and say about our grandparents and great grandparents generation and say "oh yeah it was all that lead you were exposed to which caused all those adverse effects (health-wise, personality-wise, and IQ wise)" if we will point back and say "oh yeah it was all those hormones or hormone disruptors you pumped into everything"
(Although now I’m reading the methodology behind that number may be flawed)
Plastics, daily dairy consumptions (every meal!), soy, sedentary lifestyle, processed food, lack of minerals in soil/food, not being exposed to natural fungus in soil and nature, not consuming enough fermented foods because we have refrigeration, not enough meditation we would get from sitting in front of a fire, not enough exposure to heat/cold in the natural seasons, not using natural ground water... obviously not all of that, but my point is that it could be anything.
Just... don't understand why we learn so slow.
Once in a while I'll see something about the history of food preservation and it's always funny because the more optimistic folks will point to a particular date and inventor as the birth of pasteurized canning. And then a more curmudgeonly person will sometimes point out that the tin from those cans would leach in and turn the food black.
Not quite the victory people make it out to be. It was a bit later before they got the process to store food that people would eat.
I tend to use glass for anything other than water. Anything without a neutral pH can make your container more reactive, no matter what it's made of. I put tea or coffee into a double wall stainless, but only occasionally.
Of course I have a friend who found some ceramic food storage containers with lids. They're lighter than glasslock but I already have more than I use, and they have better seals.
1: discover they are poison
2: invent a new one
3: ten years pass
4: GOTO 1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIvHrC_mS_M
Big fan of this channel in general, he at least tries to back up his research (there's a recent one on the perceived danger of overheating non-stick pans).
For instance, I'd like to know if my hard-plastic Camelbak water container is now basically safe considering I've had it for about 4 years and refill it about 2/3 times a day, or if it's leaching at essentially the same rate as when it was new.
Right now the research seems to show plastic micro particles show up in a lot of places, but whether that actually causes harm remains to be seen.
I definitely think it's something that should be studied more though.