The debate over the use of packaged foods has for long made headlines. A new study in this regard by the University of Toronto will certainly make the users of such packaged meals and snacks think twice before using has surfaced.
The study expounds that packaged or artificial food containing indecipherable, unhealthy and wasteful ingredients.
Perfluorinated chemicals such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), polyfluoroalkyl phosphate surfactant (PAPS), commonly found in wrappers can easily migrate into such foods at levels up to several hundred times higher than FDA approved guidelines indicate. Once ingested, such toxic chemicals become bio available in the human body.
The scientists conducted the study on rats, demonstrated that once ingested, PAPS became bioavailable and were metabolized to form PFOA and other chemicals. To give a credible explanation in this regard, the rats were given a large amount of the chemicals. After 15 days, it was discovered that while PAPS remained unaffected, several metabolic intermediates related to fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOH) appeared, leading to a concentration of PFOA in the rats’ livers. Similar action takes place in humans.
During 1999 to 2000, blood samples of Americans population were taken and the government scientists found levels of PFOA, PFOS and other perfluorinated chemicals in 90% of the samples.
In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board classified perfluorinated chemicals as human carcinogens that affect neonatal development, hormone levels, the liver and the immune system.
Studies in this regard give credibility to the fact that it’s feasible for food contact chemicals to migrate from paper to food and to be responsible for some of the PFOA in humans.
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Via:Treehugger