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"Avoid Poisonous Lead and Plastics Like the Plague"
Use Glass and Stainless Cookware and Dishes
Okay...maybe their not quite as bad as
the plague, but cookware laced with lead and plastics laced with
phthalates and dioxins should be avoided—especially
when cooking or eating hot foods and drinks. I first found out
about the dangers of cooking with plastic when I got an email about it.
My first thought was that it was another domestic myth circulating the
Web. But when I did some investigating, I found out that it some of it
was a myth and some of it was not (although the Plastics Industry still
says that it is a myth). Some say
that cooking with plastics releases
dioxins
in the food; others say it's not the dioxins that you have
to worry about...it's
phthalates
that may be the problem.
Here's what Dr. Rolf Halden,
PhD, PE, assistant professor in the Department of
Environmental Health Sciences and the Center for Water and
Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health has said about cooking with plastic:
"In general, whenever you heat
something you increase the likelihood of pulling chemicals out.
Chemicals can be released from plastic packaging materials like the
kinds used in some microwave meals. Some drinking straws say on the
label 'not for hot beverages.' Most people think the warning is because
someone might be burned. If you put that straw into a boiling cup of hot
coffee, you basically have a hot water extraction going on, where the
chemicals in the straw are being extracted into your nice cup of coffee.
We use the same process in the lab to extract chemicals from materials
we want to analyze. If you are cooking with plastics or using plastic
utensils, the best thing to do is to follow the directions and only use
plastics that are specifically meant for cooking. Inert containers
are best, for example heat-resistant glass, ceramics and good old
stainless steel."
View Original Article
and also read
If you view the original article (linked above) you will see that he
specifically states that freezing water in plastic water bottles does
not release dioxins. Freezing does not cause chemical
leaching...heating does. So do
not cook with plastics that leach questionable chemicals
(check for recycle markings on the bottom of the container):
- #3 (PVC)
- #6 (PS)
- #7 (often polycarbonate)
Tip:
Print
Quick Start—Plastic Products at a Glance and paste it inside the
cabinet you use to store your plastic containers.
There are also concerns about aluminum
pans (unless they are anodized), copper pans, and ceramic cookware and
dishes that may contain lead glazing (especially if made in Italy,
India, China, Mexico, or Hong Kong). And since ceramic cookware and
dishes don't have to be marked "Lead Free," how can we tell?
The bottom line: Use glass, stainless
steel, and iron skillets to cook and store food. Glass is best for
acidic food like tomatoes and tomato sauce.
Once I did the research and made the
decision that I wanted to reduce ALL possible chemical exposures for my
daughter I did the following:
- Threw out all my #3, #6, and #7 plastics.
- Purchased some great glass containers for food storage. They even
come with lids (which are plastic, but don't touch the food).
- Bought new 18/10 (otherwise known as 316) stainless steel cookware
by Cuisinart (got a great deal on eBay!). This 18/10 stainless is
supposed to be the one that is best at minimizing metallic
contamination. NOT
 E:
Stainless steel, by definition, contains chromium and nickel, but I
didn't find any articles that claimed stainless steel is unsafe.
- Bought some of that old-fashioned (and seemingly unbreakable)
Corelle dishware (not the stoneware). They have all kinds of cool
designs now...I bought the set in the picture to go with my red
kitchen. I also bought some of the plain white plates and bowls to
supplement...so now I can safely feed an army ;-D.
- Bought some old Corelle coffee cups on eBay for my daughter to
drink out of. I'm not sure their new coffee mugs (kinda like
stoneware and not made in the USA) are safe.
- Bought some glass coffee mugs.
- Bought a cheap Teflon coated frying pan...cheap enough to throw
out and replace when the coating gets damaged.
It took some getting used to, but now
we rarely use plastic in the kitchen. And when we microwave anything
packaged in plastic, we remove the food from the plastic container, put
it on a Corelle dish or a glass dish, and then cover it with an
unbleached paper plate (to stop splattering). Works great!
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