Plastic Wraps and Plastic Containers: A Potential Health Hazard?

Microwave cooking has revolutionized the processes of defrosting, cooking and reheating food. For meal preparation, consumers today have at their disposal literally thousands of convenient and quick "microwave meals", side dishes and desserts. We use a microwave oven for everything from boiling water to preparing a Thanksgiving turkey and everything in between. Much of our microwave food cooking is done in plastic containers, or in containers covered with plastic wrap. But is this practice safe? Do you know what chemicals are in these plastics?

Plastic wraps and plastic packaging may present a potential hazard when used for microwave-heated foods, according to a November 2007 news report by Ashley Swann, NBC12 News reporter. In the NBC12 airing of Swann's story, Dr. Susan Solomon, who studies the effects use of microwave ovens have on human health commented, "I would never heat in plastic." Dr. Solomon further stated she has read several studies that suggest more risk than benefit when it comes to using plastic to heat foods in a microwave oven. "The chemicals [from plastics] will leach into the oils that are in that food and then you'll be eating them as toxicity."

Chinapost.com reports "Medical experts at leading hospitals have confirmed the potential hazards of plastic packaging materials containing DEHA." DEHA (Di(2-ethyl hexyl) adipate)is defined by http://www.phthalates.org as a plasticizer commonly used in cling film food wrap.

These expert reports show thin plastic membranes like Saran wrap and other plastic wraps can create health problems when foods are covered with or heated in plastic containers in microwave ovens. The health hazard is caused because plastics containing polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate, or polyvinylidene chloride have a tendency to melt, releasing toxic substances into the food cooked at high heat in the microwave.

In a Sept. 10, 2002 Alabama Cooperative Extension System Newsletter article Dr. Jean Weese, one of the extension system's food scientists, offers advice to those concerned about potential health issues associated with using plastics for microwave food cooking. She suggests consumers "avoid using plastic storage containers such as margarine tubs, takeout containers and other one-time use containers, all of which can melt or warp, possibly causing chemicals to migrate into the food."

Dr. Weese further cautions consumers not to use thin plastic grocery bags, brown paper bags, or aluminum foil for cooking foods in a microwave oven. She assures consumers that it is safe to use wax paper, parchment paper, microwave-safe paper towels and microwavable plastic wraps.

Alabama Cooperative Extension System confirms the "urban legend" that a seventh-grade Arkansas student named Claire Nelson was, "curious to learn whether potentially harmful chemicals released from heated plastic during microwave cooking ended up in food." Her testing revealed that one of the substances, known by as DEHA, was present in trace amounts in oil after microwaving food covered with olive-oil coated plastic. The DEHA migrated into the oil at between 200 parts and 500 parts per million. The current FDA standard for DEHA is 0.05 parts per billion.

Chinapost.com indicates the U.S. Department of Health (DOH) officials have said there are no present plans to ban DEHA because it will only cause real problems when it is absorbed into human body in excess amounts.