By Allison Warren, Staff Writer
Editor’s Note: This article, which was written on Dec. 5, was updated on Dec. 19 after its initial publication, to include findings from an article published in the LA Times on Dec.19.
If you take a look in either of the Beren campus cafeterias, you will find that almost all the serving pieces are black. If you look to make yourself pasta from the pasta bar, the container is black. The forks, knives and spoons are all black. Even the straws are black. Yet, after a peer reviewed article was published in October titled “From e-waste to living space: Flame retardants contaminating household items add to concern about plastic recycling,” Yeshiva University may want to rethink what they are using to serve food to their students.
This study discovered that exposure to black plastic, material regularly used in household items such as kitchenware and children’s toys, may have detrimental effects on one’s health. Electric and electronic products often include bromine and organophosphate flame retardants in high concentrations as a means to prevent or suppress fire. Yet, flame retardants are associated with an array of health concerns including “carcinogenicity, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity.”
Since plastics from electronics are often recycled, coupled with the lack of restrictions on flame retardants entering the recycling stream, flame retardants typically wind up being used for household goods that do not require them, leading to high and avoidable exposure to toxic material. Bromine and organophosphate flame retardants were discovered in black plastic hair accessories, kitchen utensils, toys and office supplies – all products which do not require flame retardants, indicating the products were contaminated with recycled electronic waste.
Bromine flame retardants in food utensils is cause for concern as flame retardants may leach during use. Similarly, flame retardants can leach into children’s saliva when they play with their toys.
The researchers screened 203 black plastic products and found flame retardants in 85% of them, with concentrations as high as 22,800 mg/kg. Flame retardants detected included the restricted compound deca-BDE, widely used in electronic casings. 11,900 ppm of deca-BDE was discovered in a black plastic sushi tray. Deca-BDE is a member of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE) flame retardants. Those with high levels of PBDE in their blood are approximately 300% more likely to die from cancer as compared to those with low levels. In 2021 the US Environmental Protection Agency banned deca-BDE due to its association with “cancer, endocrine and thyroid issues, fetal and child development and neurobehavioral function and reproductive and immune system toxicity.”
Due to the contamination occurring through the recycling process, it is estimated that a person exposes themselves to 34.7 ppm of deca-BDE each day if using black plastic kitchen utensils.
Although not every black plastic utensil in your kitchen may contain a toxic flame retardant, it is impossible to determine whether or not yours are contaminated, as labeling recycled content can be inconsistent.
Linda Birnbaum, former director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, recommends “not using black plastic for food contact materials or buying toys with black plastic pieces.” Additionally, Birnbaum warns not to microwave or heat black plastic containers with food, because heat encourages the chemicals to leach onto the food it is contacting, posing a concern for those students planning on microwaving their pasta. Similarly, Andrew Turner, a biogeochemist at the University of Plymouth who specializes in plastic pollution, also recommends that people remove black plastic utensils from their kitchen that may come in contact with oils and hot acids out of concern for leaching.
Megan Liu, the author of this study, advises people to exchange their plastic kitchen utensils for stainless steel options or other plastic free utensils, such as wood and stainless steel, to limit their exposure to harmful substances. Liu explains that heat causes migration of chemicals out of the products because the flame retardants are an additive, not a substance which is actually bound to the plastic polymers.
For those looking to get rid of their black plastic, the most responsible way to dispose of it is by placing it in the trash, because black plastic cannot be sorted through most municipal recycling systems. In recycling facilities the carbon used to make the plastic black prevents the plastic from being detected and identified as plastic by the sorting machines.
However, the LA Times published an article exposing a miscalculation in Liu’s study, suggesting that black plastic materials may not be as toxic as the initial study proposed. Although the risk of contamination is far less than what the study initially reported due to their math error, the authors of the study insist that one refrain from using black plastic material.
Originally, the study claimed that “potential exposure to chemicals found in one of the kitchen utensils approached the minimum levels the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a health risk.” Yet Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society in Canada, discovered an error in these findings, calculating the potential exposure to be “about one-tenth” of the minimum level that the EPA regards as a health risk.
While Schwarcz would not rid his kitchen of black plastic, he stands in agreement that flame retardants never should have made their way into these products to begin with. Nonetheless Megan Liu maintains that regardless of any miscalculations, flame retardants and toxic chemicals do not belong in kitchen utensils and pose a public health concern.
In light of these findings, YU may want to reconsider its reliance on black plastic in their cafeterias. The widespread use of black plastic in the cafeterias, including utensils and food containers, exposes students to harmful flame retardants linked to serious health issues like cancer, endocrine disruption, and neurotoxicity. By exploring safer alternatives, for the benefit of the students and staff, YU could greatly reduce potential health hazards.
Photo Caption: Black plastic in YU’s cafeterias
Photo Credit: Ashley Hefner, Emily Goldberg / the YU Observer