Chinese food wrap causes infertility
China Central Television (CCTV) announced on July 28 that 15 out of 16 types of PVC food packaging films contain plasticizers banned from using DEHA - a substance that damages the reproductive and endocrine systems.
A survey by reporters in this country also showed that half of the packaged specialties in supermarkets use PVC film.
Widely used for food packaging, plastic film has become an item found in most households because of its convenience. A Beijing resident - known as Ms. Bi - recently discovered that after using plastic wrap to wrap cooked meat for a few days, there was a thick layer of fat on the film that did not resemble the grease of food. CCTV investigated and found that Ms. Bi had used PVC film.
According to Yang Weimin, a member of the China Packaging Professional Training Council, PVC film often contains plasticizers. This plasticizer does not dissolve in cold water, but will precipitate when exposed to temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius or higher or in an oily environment. What Bi discovered - a layer of grease that is not the same as cooking fat - is the plasticizer in the film.
Yang Weimin also said that transparent PVC film has good adhesion and is cheap, so it is popular with many people, accounting for 60-70% of the market. In some supermarkets in Guangzhou, the sellers do not know whether the film sold in their supermarkets is PE or PVC, and at the same time, they assert that food is "absolutely safe" no matter what kind of film is wrapped.
In 2005, China banned businesses from using DEHA plastic to produce food preservation films. The Beijing Environmental Protection Technical Consulting Center took 16 samples of PVC preservation films with different brands from supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou... and sent them to the authorities for analysis.
Results: 16 brands in 15 countries contained the banned plasticizer DEHA. The PVC film from the biggest brands all contained DEHA. Of these, the lowest exceeded the limit by 98 times, the highest by 472 times, and the average exceeded the limit by 200 times.
Dong Jinshi, a food safety expert, said: "The main danger is the impact on hormones, disrupting the endocrine system, causing estrogen to increase and male hormones to decrease. As a result, women experience early puberty, men become infertile, and especially the development of the genitals of infants and young children is affected."
According to Kienthuc.net - HV
