Micro- and nanoplastics aren’t the only particles leaking out of plastic containers and into food. When plastic is broken apart by heat, tons of chemical additives fly out as well. Boland notes that while the techniques used in Hussain’s experiment could not distinguish between plastic polymers and chemical additives, “both are probably toxic.” We don’t know whether chemical additives are as bad as nanoplastics (or worse), but “at the end of the day,” he says, “none of the stuff that’s emerging from these plastics is very good for anybody.”
Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and the president of Beyond Plastics, a policy and advocacy group against plastic pollution, stopped microwaving plastic 30 years ago. She thinks that you should, too: “My goodness, especially if you have kids or if you’re pregnant, do not put plastic in the microwave.”
“It’s a pain in the neck,” she acknowledges, but “even this one study should be a wake-up call—not just to new parents but to the FDA. They need to be far more proactive.” Transand agrees: “The FDA is glacially behind.”
To get a plastic product approved for food or beverage packaging, a manufacturer needs to submit a limited amount of self-reported data to the FDA. But the agency doesn’t have the resources to test the safety of all plastic products before they go on the market or to spot-check them once they’re available in stores.
Polypropylene is considered safe for food contact—even in the microwave—by the FDA, which allows companies to use it for packaging things like baby food. Boland disagrees: “I don’t believe that there are microwave-safe plastics.” Trasande and Enck agree that while independent studies should continue testing how much plastic is being released from food packaging, there is already enough evidence to show that “microwave-safe plastic” isn’t really safe. “I think the FDA needs to tell companies that they can no longer say any plastic is microwavable,” says Enck.
Broadly reducing human exposure to plastics will require government action and sweeping corporate change, says Trasande. After all, they’re in the air, in the water, and inside you. Enck doesn’t think manufacturers are likely to make the first move. “Corporations will continue to use plastic for as long as they can, because it’s cheap. That motivates them more than anything,” she says.
Even if a new technology emerged that could prevent plastic containers from shedding particles, Boland suspects that companies wouldn’t adopt it without being forced to do so by regulation. In principle, food companies and plastics manufacturers could be “opening themselves up to litigation for past products,” he says, since changing their packaging would imply that they had been knowingly producing something that released microplastics before.
Enck says that one potential solution could be to create a third-party certification program connecting food companies to independent scientists who can test their products and report results to the FDA. On an individual level, there are still some things people can do: Opt for reusable glass and stainless steel. Don’t pour hot liquids into plastic containers. And, please, stop microwaving plastic.
Boland says scientists should keep doing research to understand exactly what particles are being released from plastics under specific conditions. “If you can’t measure,” he says, “you can’t legislate.”
Updated 8-1-23, 1:40 pm EST: Microwaving produces heat and hydrolysis, but not UV irradiation, as previously stated.
Updated 8-2-23, 11:55 am EST: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Leonardo Trasande’s name.
