Detecting Nonylphenol in PVC Food Wrap 

Japan Offspring Fund (JOF) Monthly Newsletter n.117 & 118 Feb99

Combined articles that appeared in issues no.117 (January 1998), and no.118 (February 1998);
original Japanese article written by Noriko Saito, and English revised version by Natsuko Kumasawa

Let's conduct an experiment using your plastic food wrap.

* If you are sensitive to chemicals, don't do this experiment.

* Be sure to wash your hand after doing this experiment.

For this experiment you need:

- a bucket half full of water
- plastic food wrap

1. Cut a piece of food wrap about 1 meter long.
2. Soak the wrap in the bucket of water.
3.Strongly crumple the wrap in the water for several minutes.

What happened?

Did you feel something slippery on your hand?
Did the wrap become foamy like soap bubbles?

If you didn't feel anything, you probably used a wrap without additives. However, most food wraps contain many chemical additives, and these chemicals leach out when the wrap is soaked and crumpled in water.

Yes, this experiment can be a bit dangerous. But as you can imagine, we consume these chemicals. The chemicals leach out when the wrap is soaked in water in this experiment. Chemicals leach out more from food wraps at high temperatures and when in contact with fats. Do you cover warm dishes containing fat --like soups or stir-fry ? with plastic wrap? Do you microwave foods wrapped in plastics? If so, chemicals are leaching out of the food wrap and are being absorbed in your food. You are eating food contaminated with these chemicals.

Bubbles from Plastic food wraps

In January, we did an experiment with food warp. We soaked and crumpled 15 meter-long pieces of food wrap in 400cc of water. See the picture below.

Can you see the bubbles in the glasses? These are not bubbles from beer or detergent. All of these bubbles came from the pieces of PVC plastic food wrap. We were shocked to find these bubbles. After we did this experiment, our hands became itchy and rough. Some people suffered rough skin for several days. What are the chemicals that made our hands rough? Are they dangerous?

Nonylphenol is detected in food wrap

We decided to ask the Japan Food Research Laboratories (JFRL) to analyze plastic food wraps. Since we had heard that nonylphenol is often used as an ingredient in food wrap, we asked JFRL to check for nonylphenols in experiments at their test center. Nonylphenol is a common ingredient in synthetic detergent and is known as an endocrine disruptor. Nonylphenol is one of the chemicals found to be causing the feminization of fish in the Thames River in England.

We bought 26 plastic food wraps with different ingredients to be analyzed. The table on the next page outlines the results.

Unit: ƒÊg/ml (ppm); identification limit: 0.05 ppm; nd: not detected
Experiment conditions: solvent medium (25 �Ž n-heptane), soak wrap in 25 �Ž n-heptane for 60 minutes.
Test center: Japan Food Research Laboratories

Nonylphenol, one of the endocrine disruptor was detected in 13 plastic food wraps available for commercial and household use. The amount of nonylphenol is ranged from 0.19 to 0.63ƒÊg/ml (ppm). All wraps that nonylphenol is detected is made from PVC.

It is wise to avoid using PVC food wrap, however, PVC wraps are widely used commercially. At grocery stores and supermarkets, foods such as meats, fish, and vegetables are often packed in polystyrene foam containers and covered with plastic. These plastic wraps are often made of PVC. If you can buy foods directly from producers, bring your own container to avoid food contamination. Since meat and fish contain fat, nonylphenol from plastic wrap can easily migrate into foods.

When you buy plastic food wrap for household use, read the product label carefully and choose one made of polyethylene without additives. To avoid exposure to nonylphenol, do not buy PVC wrap, and remember that PVC wrap can also be a precursor to dioxins.

We are still not sure whether nonylphenol is one of the causes of the bubbles. Although Daiawrap Super made a lot of bubbles, as shown in the picture, nonylphenol was not detected during analysis. We will continue our investigations to determine the source of the bubbles.

Related articles
http://www.naturalhealthvillage.com/newsletter/HL990201/plasticwrap.htm 
http://www.slac.com/u/tree/research/txt/foam2.txt

source: http://www.mmjp.or.jp/JOF/english/news/news118.htm#2 31jul01