• Home

'Prolonged use of plastic products can be harmful'

As the controversial debate over the risks of using plastic cups heats up, they also say that even the use of plastic packaging products, which are commonly used in the UAE, are also harmful for users.

“Apart from posing certain health risks that are inevitable during the manufacturing process of plastic, the subsequent use of packaging products is also harmful as certain chemicals get transferred from the plastic packaging to the foods they contain,” cautioned Dr Delia Fayyad from Jebel Ali Hospital.

Said Dr Delia, quoting references from the Environment Ecology Centre: “The common adverse health effects related to plastic products are numerous but they can be avoided if alternatives to plastic are found.”

Examples of plastics contaminating food have been reported with most plastic types, including styrene from polystyrene, plasticisers from PVC, antioxidants from polyethylene, and acetaldehyde from PET bottles used commonly for beverages.

She said polyvinylchloride can cause cancer, birth defects, genetic changes, chronic bronchitis, ulcers, skin diseases, deafness, vision failure, indigestion, and liver dysfunction, while polyethylene (PET) is a suspected human carcinogen and polystyrene can irritate eyes, nose and throat and can cause dizziness and unconsciousness. Elevated rates of lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers for workers could also be a possible outcome,” she says.

Giving her recommendations to avoid such ailments, Dr Delia, outlined some specific suggestions: “Buy food in glass or metal containers, avoid heating food in plastic containers or storing fatty foods in plastic containers or plastic wraps, do not give young children plastic teethers or toys, use natural fibre clothing in bedding and furniture and in general avoid use of all PVC and styrene products.

Dr Suraiwan Wenbzel, a research analyst from Dubiotech, Dubai Biotechnology and Research Parks, said: “There are many types of plastics, and not each type is suitable for use in relation with products meant for human consumption.” In addition, to creating safety problems during production, many chemical additives that give plastic products their desirable performance properties also have negative environmental and human health effects."

Plastics are synthetic substances produced by engineering chemical reactions. Almost all plastics are made from petroleum, except a few experimental resins derived from corn and other organic substances. Plastic has many properties which has made it a raw material of choice for manufacturers of plastic bags and packing materials.

The (usually low) cost of production, light weight, strength, easy manufacturing processes , and wide availability are few of its other advantageous properties. There is nothing wrong with plastic as a material.

“Man has simply not put plastics to the right use — or uses it without taking proper precautionary care,” says Dr Delia.

• UAE