Some common items in your kitchen could be dangerous to your health. These are the black utensils that many of us use to serve a dish or stir our meal when it is cooking. They contain flame retardants, which are potentially carcinogenic.
Do you use a black plastic ladle to serve your broth or soup? Be careful, because according to American scientists, these kitchen utensils contain toxic chemicals at very high levels: flame retardants.
What is a flame retardant?
Flame retardants are chemicals added to everyday objects, such as vehicles, furniture, electronic devices, etc. to make them less flammable and thus meet fire resistance standards.
In this study, the researchers looked at 203 different consumer products, analyzing each one for the presence of two different flame retardants: brominated flame retardants and organophosphate flame retardants.
Banned compounds found in 70% of samples
Their work concluded that these flame retardants were present in 85% of the products tested, with the highest levels of toxic flame retardants in a sushi tray, a spatula and a pearl necklace intended for children.
More worryingly, the authors report having detected in 70% of the samples tested, traces of a particular compound, normally banned because it is suspected of being carcinogenic and toxic for many human functions, such as reproduction. This is deca-BDE, found in the kitchen utensils tested. Its level was estimated by the researchers to be 5 to 1,200 times higher than the European Union limit of 10 ppm.
How do these compounds end up in kitchen utensils?
" We know that some electronics companies use extremely dangerous flame retardants in their products, and we thought it was quite likely that some of this flame-retardant plastic was being recycled and ending up in household items like toys and cookware," said Megan Liu, study co-author and science and policy lead at Toxic-Free Future.
" And that's what we found: flame retardants linked to cancer and hormone disruption are ending up in the products we use to eat or prepare food, or that our children play with."
Chemical compounds harmful to health
In addition, these compounds used in kitchen utensils have every chance of ending up in our stomachs. And these exposures would be far from harmless.
Various studies have already suggested an association between exposure to brominated flame retardants and cryptorchidism, thyroid hormone disruption or reproductive problems. An association with the onset of certain cancers, particularly breast cancer, has also been suggested.
Return to the traditional wooden spoon
Electronics manufacturers put these flame retardants in plastic products to prevent them from catching fire. But this can ultimately be more harmful to health.
“Companies continue to use toxic flame retardants in plastic electronics, leading to unexpected and unnecessary toxic exposures,” Liu said. “These cancer-causing chemicals are not meant to be used in the first place, but with recycling, they are entering our environment and homes in more ways than one. The high levels we found are concerning.”
If you don't want to take any risks, you can, like the study's author, ditch your black plastic utensils and opt for a plastic-free wooden or stainless-steel spoon for cooking; and opt for reusable glass containers instead of saving and reusing your black plastic takeout containers.