Toxic Plastic--What A Gas!

[WingedWolfPsion]

The fumes from PVC are toxic, and it leaches into our food and water supply. BPA got the most attention, but it's not the only toxic plastic we're using.

The problem is, when these things were tested, it was assumed that a large quantity of something would have a stronger affect on the body than a smaller quantity. That proved to not be the case with plastics. Minute doses can induce BIG changes.

Now it's too late, and we can't get away from them. They're pervasive in the environment--everywhere. They're causing an increase in birth defects such as hypospadias, and a variety of other problems that are still poorly understood. Cancer is just part of it.

If you somehow managed to remove all plastics from your environment, and had a daughter, her children will still be affected by these chemicals. Scary? Indeed.

They would never allow an unsafe plastic to be sold? BPA was used in baby bottles right up til just a few years ago, and it's been in production since the 1940s, so rethink that assumption. That's some seriously bad stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A

And it STILL HASN'T BEEN BANNED.

Here's an article in Time Magazine about phthalates and PVC:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...990361,00.html

Here's some very technical fun stuff about what phthalates do:
http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi...tract/kfm069v1

Our environment is just chock full of endocrine disrupters, and there's no way we can escape from them now. I doubt that the bins we keep our ball pythons in are any worse for them than the chemicals in the water they drink, or that are concentrated in the rats they eat.

The sterilite tubs we use are made of polypropolene plastic. My racks, however, are expanded PVC. Unless you buy special melamine, though, the particle board beneath the melamine coating is made with formaldehyde, so that's not a great option either. I see no reason not to keep using my racks, as I feel that the damage has already been done.

So what's the result? Maybe a few more males that are lazy breeders, or aren't very fertile. A few more problems with hatchlings. But it's always been that way, so we didn't really notice.