Toxic Chemicals in Your Kitchen? Find Out the Risks!

Toxic Chemicals in Your Kitchen?
Toxic Chemicals in Your Kitchen? Credit | Getty images

United States: Recent research has discovered that many products we use for food, like kitchen utensils and containers, can contain harmful chemicals. A new study found high levels of toxic flame retardants in black-colored plastic items. This is important because these chemicals can be dangerous to our health when they come into contact with food.

As reported by Yahoo life, these specific findings are raising a lot of questions about the safety of a variety of kitchen staples, including the products used to prepare your food. But in general, doctors and other professionals say there should be no panicking. “I think of these reports as getting the chance to alter our behaviors to be better for us,” Jamie Alan, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, tells Yahoo Life.

“Please accept it as a chance and reflect how we take or handle food preparation and storage and, if possible, make some modifications to it.”

What every day cookery appliances have been found wanting — and, more crucially, what should you do about it? Here is what four scientists have to say on this topic.

Plastic cutting boards:

Peer-reviewed research conducted in Environmental Science & Technology last year discovered that having a plastic cutting board can cause up to 7,680 tiny plastic shards to be deposited on your food. These microplastics can then be ingested and stay in your body where they can accumulate.

“It occurs to me that plastic cutting boards may be a major source of microplastic contamination in human food, Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health. “It’s also not completely clear whether consuming microplastics is bad for you or not, however, there are some individuals who would prefer not to consume microplastics due to possible toxic effects of related compounds.”

Specifically, earlier this year, studies revealed that subjects with micro plastics in the plaque buildup in their neck arteries had a higher probability of a heart attack or stroke than those without microplastics in their plaque. Microplastics have also been found in the brain, and also various other part of the body as well.