Are Black Plastic Cooking Utensils Safe?

Nov 01, 2024

To be a human in 2024 is to have toxins running constantly through one’s body. Whether or not you choose to put them there actively with fun things like tequila or candy, one way or another, a bunch of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things will end up inside your organs. Just as I was getting used to the idea of tiny, undetectable pieces of plastic floating around in there, a new hazard has come to my attention: black plastic, a material that is everywhere and, according to science, could be slowly killing me.

Theoretically, I could have been freaking out about black plastic since 2017, when scientists first found evidence that many black plastic products were actually made of electronic waste and its many accompanying toxins. But I was busy then, and in the intervening years, I managed not to realize that pretty much everything I come into contact with that is black and made of plastic — kitchen utensils, takeout-sushi containers, hair accessories, office supplies, children’s toys — could be a health hazard. Thankfully — or not — a new study published in September has finally caught my attention, and now I must live with the knowledge that poisonous computer remnants may have been lurking beneath the unassuming pile of pickled ginger I wolfed down with last night’s dragon roll.

Here’s how it happens. According to experts, black plastic often goes straight to landfills without getting recycled, because the machines at recycling facilities don’t know how to recognize the color black. (How embarrassing.) So when companies want to make new black plastic, instead of recycling other black plastic, they use discarded TV and computer casings, which are treated with a host of spooky chemicals that should definitely not be coming into contact with our food. A 2018 study found lead, mercury, and flame retardants in 40 percent of black plastic products — substances that have been linked to thyroid disease, diabetes, cancer, and brain-development issues.

Depending on the product, these chemicals can trickle into your body any number of ways. Per The Atlantic, flame retardants love nothing more than to leap from their polymers to whatever environment they find themselves in, particularly if that environment is hot — like, say, cooking oil or a cozy fall stew. But studies have found hazardous flame retardants can also find their way into toddlers’ saliva, breast milk, and even house dust, which is basically just the air you breathe.

Given all this, you might think that, actually, some of these materials shouldn’t be going on our laptops either? A lot of the flame retardants that have been found on black plastics apparently have been banned in the U.S. for years, but have made their way back into our $7 spatulas thanks to a largely unregulated global plastic recycling economy. Even more alarming: In the newest study, most of the products that turned up teeming with toxic contaminants weren’t even labeled as recycled plastic, leading one biochemist to describe shopping for these things as “a minefield.” Oh, good, I was looking for something new to stress about.

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