Endocrine - Disrupting Carcinogenic  Plastic Contamination in the Food Chain : A Review

Tarun Batra

Voice for Earth International 225, Cedar Hill Rd, Suite 200, Marlborough, MA 01752 USA.

ABSTRACT: The breakdown products from unrecycled and improperly disposed plastics in land and at sea affect the aquatic organisms in a functional and developmental level. The control of liquid leachates and gaseous emissions has become necessary as new classes of pollutants from plastics are discovered. While these pollutants may be quickly metabolized by most biota, the continuous release of low levels of pollutants coupled with bio- magnification in higher tropic levels bears further study on the potential effects of these breakdown products and their dispersal within the food chain. There are documented effects of these leachates as endocrine disruptors or as carcinogens. There are studies on evidence of concentrations of BPA, DEHP or other plasticizers in fish tissues as well as in freshwaters and other marine environment, mostly in surface waters and sediments. As the use of plastics continues and expands with an increasing consumption of plastics in developed and developing countries, it is vital to find novel ways to remove plastics from landfills or marine environment, failing which varied endocrine disruptors and carcinogens will have undesirable effects on ecosystems, native aquatic organisms and the human populations who consume them.

KEYWORDS: Plastic Leachates; BPA; Human Food chain Contamination; Endocrine Disruptors

[ HTML Full Text]