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You can back that question up one level to "what are the biological effects of plastics?" And the answer is, broadly, they mimic hormones. Compounds in plasti
by colechristensen 2y ago
You can back that question up one level to "what are the biological effects of plastics?"
And the answer is, broadly, they mimic hormones. Compounds in plastics can activate endocrine receptors because they are similar enough to hormones which are more or less everywhere across the animal kingdom.
Sometimes it can be hard to pin down the specific negative effects in isolation, but there are some pretty clear metrics.
"A review of the endocrine disrupting effects of micro and nano plastic and their associated chemicals in mammals" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9885170/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9885170/
- hammock 2y agoThe most common plastic, PET, is inert and does not mimic hormones
- colechristensen 2y agoThis is not correct. "When comparing water of the same spring that is packed in glass or plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), estrogenic activity is three times higher in water from plastic bottles." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960076010003572 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096007601...
- hammock 2y agoPET in consumer products has a lot of contaminating non-PET plastics, precursors and other chemicals co-present, which can lead to the effects you cite. If you were to get a block of lab grade PET you’d find it was inert