Every time you pick up the newspaper it seems there is something else you shouldn't eat. Remember when everyone switched to margarine, except for those of us who thought it tasted like spreadable plastic?

And then there were those of us who didn't buy margarine who had the last laugh — well, I didn't actually laugh because it was all too sinister — when we learned that trans-fats (hydrogenated oils) concocted in corporate laboratories made butter look like a health food ... which it probably is in small amounts. Yet I watched people like my parents eliminate every natural fat from their diet in their quest to be healthier and to live longer. What disturbs me most, however, is that I watch these same people (and I do mean you, Mom) eating plastic on a regular basis. And in this case, I don't mean butter substitutes. I mean plastic. And plastic is something you shouldn't eat.

Plastic alphabet soup

Technically speaking, I mean plasticizers — small molecules, most of which belong to a chemical group known collectively as phthalates — which, besides being toxic, may win some sort of prize for its long series of uninterrupted consonants. Plasticizers generally impart flexibility to plastic. Without them, plastic would shatter like glass. Bisphenol A or BPA is also a plasticizer — though not a phthalate — but shares an important property with them that should be discussed further. You've heard of BPA because Congress banned it from children's toys a year ago. Recently I've noticed a lot of stainless-steel water bottles back on the market, thanks to BPA. Congress also banned six phthalates from those toys at the same time; but no one seemed to notice.

I started eliminating plastics from my kitchen about a decade ago. I wasn't smarter than anyone else. I just had more information. Back in the '80s, when I was a graduate student in the Toxicology Department at the University of Arizona, phthalates were already widely known to be 1) nearly ubiquitous environmental contaminants routinely found in human urine, blood and milk, and 2) associated with wide-ranging toxic effects — including cancer — when they were tested individually in laboratory animal studies.

We also know that phthalates, like BPA, don't stay in the plastic. The EPA notes matter-of-factly that DEHP — the acronym for just one of many phthalate plasticizers — "migrates from plastic into food during processing and storage." Ever notice that warning about not letting the plastic wrap touch food in the microwave? I bet you ignore it. I bet like most people, including my mother, you wrap food directly in plastic wrap and pop it in the microwave or the refrigerator. You probably use plastic food-storage containers, plastic microwave-safe dishes, plastic water bottles, plastic utensils and cups, eat canned food (they are plastic-lined), and drink milk that comes in plastic jugs.

Why shouldn't you? Because phthalates and BPA belong to a large group of compounds known as endocrine disrupters. They alter the function of the endocrine system, which includes the reproductive organs, the hypothalamus and the thyroid. In short, they act like hormones.

Hormones, as anyone who has ever seen a birth-control pill knows, have very powerful effects at very low doses. As a contractor for the EPA more than 10 years ago, I learned that endocrine disrupters were emerging as a major bad-boy environmental contaminant — one that might alter the ability of animals and plants to reproduce and function normally. And endocrine disrupters are everywhere — in pesticides, industrial chemicals and consumer products such as plastics. We just don't know if effects that are suspected to be occurring in nature as a result of these pollutants are also occurring in humans from exposure to these compounds in our food.

If the EPA and the FDA aren't worried yet, then why am I picking on plasticizers in the kitchen? Why did I toss my Tupperware years ago? After all, the whole topic is considered controversial. I have even seen the problem dismissed as an urban legend on the Internet. As a toxicologist, there are several facts that concern me:

1) We know broad exposure to plasticizers is occurring;

2) The potential for exposure to plasticizers from multiple sources is very high to certain;

3) Plasticizers are demonstrated to have the type of toxic effect (endocrine disruption) that requires only very low exposure levels;

4) There are at least 25 phthalates used in different products, but EPA human-exposure limits are based on presumed exposure to one single compound at a time;

5) Studies on the effects of simultaneous exposure to multiple compounds — even prescription drugs — are rare, so we know virtually nothing about the effect of this broad exposure to multiple plasticizers;

6) The types of toxic effects found in animal studies of phthalates are wide-ranging and serious;

7) High human levels of phthalates have been correlated with obesity, heart disease, reproductive dysfunction and cancer — diseases that some studies indicate are on the rise. While such correlation does not prove cause and effect, it is disturbing.

Saying no to plastics

The bottom line for me is that I care what I eat. I mostly shop organic or natural, and I buy mostly fresh, unprocessed food. If I don't want to eat or feed my family and guests pesticides, extra salt and other additives, then why would I knowingly eat or feed anybody else plasticizers?

Your kitchen is a laboratory. The traditional materials used in laboratories are glass, ceramics and stainless steel, because these materials are relatively inert and do not affect the results of laboratory experiments, so they won't contaminate your food, either.

A return to these once-traditional kitchen materials for our own cooking and storage is the easy part. Convincing manufacturers that we don't want plasticizers with our food — whether it's plastic-lined cans, canning lids, pizza boxes or butcher paper — will take more work, but consumer demand will be the only thing that changes the marketplace. That's what happened to bring about the sudden boon of stainless-steel water bottles (ironically, many are plastic-lined) and the ban on certain plasticizers in toys.

Ask questions. Be a demanding consumer. It was demanding consumers who created the organic-food market. If you could say no to pesticides, then you can say, "I don't want any plastic with that," too.

More on plasticizers

If you are interested in this topic and would like more information, the Endocrine Society — the professional organization for endocrinology clinicians and researchers — published two documents this year concerning endocrine-disrupting chemicals. They are available to the public as downloadable pdf files online. See EDC_Scientific_Statement.pdf and EDC_Policy_Statement.pdf at www.endo-society.org. BPA is directly referenced in the policy statement and BPA and phthalates are discussed in detail in the scientific statement.