The Reality of Plastics Testing
The Reality About Plastics Testing
About the Labs
It is important to have testing performed by a lab that is licensed by the State and Federal authorities toperform the specific test you request. Because of compliance costs, including license fees andequipment maintenance, many labs are unlicensed.
A licensed lab will be inspected and audited as machinery and maintenance can drastically affect the results of the testing. The use of an unlicensed lab could produce results that are the quivalent of complete fabrications of tested items.
About the Tests
There are dozens of materials used in enhance marketability such asblue, green and brown glass. Diflowethane is used as a detergent to clean the finished glass bottles. Plastics can utilize elastomers and materials that make the plastic lessinteractive with the materials the package may hold.
The most popular plastics used in food applications are HDPE (High Density Poly Ethylene) and PETE (Poly Ethyl Tetra Ethelene0. 90% of health Food Store products are packaged in these two formsof plastics. According to "The Green Guide" #77, March 2000,PVC and Polystyrene (styrofoam) should be avoided. The common use of these plastics are in water systems and fast food delivery.
About the Chemicals
Certain chemicals in plastics, specifically Polycarbonate, Polystyrene and PVC are "lipophilic" or in other words are attracted to fats. Styrene, P-nonylphenol, Bisphenol-a, DHEA and phthalates are used in the production of these plastics. The use of these plastics in food storage, food preparation and heating are not recommended by The Green Guide.
PETE , HDPE and LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) are recommended by The Green Guide as plastics containing no known hazard.
About the Process
Plastic testing, via a certified lab involves several steps to ultimately determine if any chemicals are present. The process itself presents several interesting facts as determined by the regulatory guidelines for the process.
Process # 8270 is used for HDPE (safe) plastic. Because of the durability and non interactive nature of HDPE , the following steps are required for analysis. The first step is to shred the plastic to yield 35 grams of material. This requires about 4 - 16 ounce size bottles.
The shredded material increases the sdace are of the bottle exponentiauy. The material is then placedin a special receptacle made of HDPE Lab Plastic because of its non-interactive nature.The HDPE jar is then filled with an acidic water solution made with HCL or, Hydrochloric Acid.The material is heated to 120 degrees and agitated in a special device for 18 hours.
Upon observing the process, 1 was amazed at what was necessary to even obtain any chemical detection out of HDPE tested as well as the fact that the non-interactive "gold standard" for the test was a receptacle made out of colorless HDPE!
The Result
A recent sample of 16 oz HDPE plastics ordered &om Barleans Organic Oils by Natural Pharmacy Concepts. The HDPE was rigorously tested in extraordinary conditions in an attempt to derive detection of over 140 chemical materials including Phthalates. The test was challenged for parts per million and not a single toxic material was detected. In fact the detection limits were reached in that the levels were 0.1 or a status of ‘‘undetectable" according to Jupiter Environmental Lab Director of Quality Assurance Pamela Shore. The test also include the bottle cap.
The third party analysis establish& several key facts for the use of HDPE plastic in the storage and delivery of fine quality flax oil.
1. HDPE is safe and does not produce chemical transfer of any toxic materials.
2. HDPE is so non-interactive that high heat testing with acid leaching agents in very intense lab testing produced no chemical detectability in the entire spectrum of chemicals (over 140 tests).
3. Companies or their agents who attack the use of plastics should examine the facts and discontinue unethical and charlatanistic marketing practices for their own gain.
4. HDPE Plastic is one of several safe plastics that can be found in Health Food Stores today.
5. While there are harmful materials in certain plastics, it is suggested that the Health Food products manufacturers respect these materials and have sought the use of safe plastics in which to store their products for consumers.
Attachments:
Jupiter Environmental Lab Report (6 pages)
Xenoestrogens Report by William Sickert (2 pages)
Whats Wrong With Plastics (one page)
Partners in Packaging (3 pages)
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