Black Plastic Items Can Have Cancer-Causing BFRs, New Study Warns

Oct 15, 2024

Black plastic items such kitchen utensils, food containers, clothing and hair accessories and ... [+] electronic equipment casing may have toxic brominated retardants, otherwise known as BFRs. (Photo: Getty)

Paint this news black. The black plastic items that you find like everywhere may contain toxic brominated flame retardants, otherwise known as BFRs. And these BFRs are not your BFFs as they’ve been linked to cancer, nervous system problems, endocrine disruption and reproductive and development issues. When researchers screened 203 black plastic consumer products for bromine, they found toxic flame retardant chemicals in 85% of these products, as described in study published on October 1 in the scientific journal Chemosphere.

In fact, the total concentrations of such flame retardants detected ranged all the way up to 22,800 mg per kilogram, as described by the study authors Megan Liu and Erika Schreder from a Toxic-Free-Future and Sicco H. Brandsma from the Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The highest levels appeared in a sushi tray, spatula, and a beaded necklace. The study even found the already banned substance deca-BDE in plastic products at levels that were five-fold to 1,200-fold higher than the European Union’s limit of 10 ppm.

And many of these black plastic items will end up either going into your mouth or touching things like hot dogs, fruitcakes or your fingers that will go into your mouth. For example, they estimated that the use of black kitchen utensils could lead to an exposure of 34,700 ng of BFRs per day.

Black kitchen utensils certainly aren’t the only things potential cooking with BFRs. Take a look around you and it may seem like your whole world is black. There’s black plastic takeout containers, toys, clothing and hair accessories, office supplies, electronic cases and on and on. Heck, maybe the computer or smartphone that you are using to read this article has black plastic casing with such flame retardants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes BFRs as “the largest marketed flame retardant group due to their high performance efficiency and low cost. In the commercial market, more than 75 different BFRs are recognized.”

Black plastic food containers are very commonly used by restaurants and other food providers. ... [+] (Photo: Getty)

Manufacturers put flame retardants in plastic presumably to prevent it from going up in flames. Having anything around you create an unexpected fire might not be good for your health. But neither would cryptorchidism, perturbations in thyroid hormone, reproductive issues or developmental issues, which epidemiological studies have shown to be associated with BFR exposure. And rats, a number of rodent studies have shown how various BFRs can affect nervous system growth and function and serve as endocrine disruptors, which in turn can affect reproductive development and function. Studies have also found associations between BFR exposure and the development of breast cancer and endocrine-related cancers.

How do you get exposed to such BFRs? Well, direct contact with your mouth could expose you like sucking on a black plastic spatula with BFRs. The EPA also mentioned “hand to mouth activity.” Now, you may interpret that phrase in many different ways, but in this case, it means touching something with BFRs and then having your hand touch your mouth. Another route is BFRs potentially leaching from containers and other items into foods, where they can stay, especially if the food has a higher fat content. But if you are surrounded by items with BFRs, then your house and workplace could essentially be a bromance in a bad way with “bro” standing for brominated. With brominated flame retardant chemicals all around you, they could readily find many different ways into your body.

Before you begin buying plastic in other colors such as orange, thinking it’s safe as the new black, keep in mind that the study only looked at black plastic items. It did not examine other colors of plastics and therefore can’t rule out the possibility that other colors have just as much BFRs in them. You can try your best to avoid black plastic items, but with BFRs being so pervasive, they can be tough to avoid.

That’s why one of the study authors has pointed to the Global Plastic Treaty negotiations that will occur among countries around the world in Busan, Korea, in November 2024. “The Biden administration must support a treaty that will end the use of the most harmful plastics and their toxic additives, even in recycled plastics,” urged Liu, who is a science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, in a statement. “The solutions are clear. The health of women and children must be prioritized over the chemical industry profits.” Time will tell how toxic versus non-toxic these negotiations turn out to be.

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