Quote:

Plastics cause wide-ranging health issues from cancer to birth defects, landmark study finds First analysis of plastics’ hazards over life cycle – from extraction to disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact

Not just BPA etc. I am buying big, widemouth preserving jars (Ball brand or Mason jars) to put stuff in that goes into the freezer, e.g. see https://rootsandboots.com/how-to-freeze-food-in-glass-jars If the jar has a shoulder measure the head space from the bottom of the shoulder, not the top of a jar. I will also preserve incl pressure canning food in these jars so they will be used heaps. Use airtight plastic lids, available from Amazon, for freezing.


Quote:

Plastics are responsible for wide-ranging health impacts including cancers, lung disease and birth defects, according to the first analysis of the health hazards of plastics across their entire life cycle – from extraction for manufacturing, through to dumping into landfill and oceans. Led by the Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary Health in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, the review found “current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health … as well as for deep societal injustices”. “The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production,” the analysis, published in the medical journal Annals of Global Health, found. “Plastics’ harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment.”

The Great Pacific Garbage Dump, two floating rafts of plastic crap!


Quote:

“Plastic production workers are at increased risk of leukaemia, lymphoma … brain cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma … and decreased fertility. Plastic recycling workers have increased rates of cardiovascular disease, toxic metal poisoning, neuropathy, and lung cancer.” Meanwhile, residents of communities adjacent to plastic production and waste disposal sites experience increased risks of premature birth, low birth weight, asthma, childhood leukaemia, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. The report referred to evidence that infants in the womb and young children were at particularly high risk.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/plastics-cause-wide-ranging-health-issues-from-cancer-to-birth-defects-landmark-study-finds

Study the article is based on:
https://annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.4056/

I was putting kiwi fruits into plastic bags for months. And then the bags of kiwi fruit would go into the fridge for a while until I got around to eat them. I found that the plastic had leeched into the kiwi fruits and were causing me some health problems. Plastic causes lowered testosterone levels. Although you will find that it is only a short term issue that passes within the week. And eating parsnips helps alleviate the problem within the next 24 hours.

For vegetables that I have to put into the supermarket's plastic bags, I transfer the vegetables over to the paper bags that I have at home. Then I put the paper bag back into the plastic bag (to protect the paper bag from moisture). So far, the tactic is working.

Woolworths is doing away with plastic bags, soon. So, it won't be a problem in the future.

One of the problems with Woolworths' reusable shopping bags...

                https://i.postimg.cc/FKC0fg3v/Screenshot-2023-04-22-at-22-54-08-675287-jpg-WEBP-Image-1200-1200-pixels-Scaled-73.png

... is that they're made of non-woven (fused fibre) polypropylene.    >:(

Non-woven polypropylene is not biodegradable or compostable
and takes many years to break down in the environment, and
this is obviously a matter of increasing concern for all plastics. 

Their use by Woolworths (and other grocery retailers) is nothing
more than empty marketing hype.  Were these retailers truly
interested in using biodegradable shopping bags, they'd be using
paper, cotton or jute.

UnSubRocky wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2023 at 10:45pm:

I was putting kiwi fruits into plastic bags for months. And then the bags of kiwi fruit would go into the fridge for a while until I got around to eat them. I found that the plastic had leeched into the kiwi fruits and were causing me some health problems. Plastic causes lowered testosterone levels. Although you will find that it is only a short term issue that passes within the week. And eating parsnips helps alleviate the problem within the next 24 hours. For vegetables that I have to put into the supermarket's plastic bags, I transfer the vegetables over to the paper bags that I have at home. Then I put the paper bag back into the plastic bag (to protect the paper bag from moisture). So far, the tactic is working. Woolworths is doing away with plastic bags, soon. So, it won't be a problem in the future.

If they're available, we use the brown paper bags intended for
mushrooms to buy stuff like avocados, kiwis, plums, beans etc.

What I hate seeing is this sort of UNNECESSARY plastic packaging:

              https://i.postimg.cc/NfWdPtzT/Screenshot-2023-04-22-at-23-16-08-6083-jpg-AVIF-Image-900-900-pixels-Scaled-98.png

Those kiwi fruits in that packaging is what I now buy. They don't leech plastic into the kiwi fruits. But, I might go back to doing the transfers into paper bags and then using the plastic bags to protect the paper bag from fridge moisture. Or I will use the mushroom paper bags for the fruits and vegetables I buy.