The study found these contaminants in the blood of all five participants: flame retardants, Teflon chemicals, synthetic fragrances, the plastics ingredient bisphenol A (BPA) and the rocket fuel component perchlorate.

Participants tested postive for 35 to 60 percent of the 75 chemicals on the list. Each also showed a high level of at least one controversial unregulated chemical.

Previous studies had demonstrated adverse health effects from BPA. But none had demonstrated whether polycarbonate bottles might be an important contributor to the amount of BPA in the body, said Carwile. Meanwhile, the FDA is saying that BPA in products is safe. Because of this situation, states (Minnesota) and cities (Chicago) are starting to ban BPA in household products, said the article.

Adults in a study who drank most of their cold beverages from Nalgene polycarbonate bottles for a week experienced nearly a 70 percent increase in urinary levels of bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen found in plastic beverage bottles.

I examined it. It is painted white on the outside. On the inside you can see the bare shiny silvery metal. Aluminum? I weighed it in my hand, comparing it to a smaller bottle I knew to be stainless steel. The larger white bottle was lighter than the smaller stainless steel bottle. So I decided it must be aluminum.

Public pools are particularly hazardous, said Plewa. Organic matter in a pool is broken down by the chlorine, creating DBPs containing nitrogen. The DBPs stay in the pool because they aren’t filtered out and don’t evaporate. This creates higher and higher levels of the toxic compounds, particularly troublesome for young children and infants.

Nearly twenty years later, we can look around us and see the products of the plastics revolution. They are EVERYWHERE. If you were around in the 1980s, you may remember that plastic just wasn’t that useful back then. In fact, if something was made of plastic, we expected it to break. Soon.