When St. Louis Bread Factory opened nearby, my dad became so delighted to bring home fresh loaves of bread that he bought my mom a bread slicer for her birthday. This was the kind of thing that sent her to bed with a migraine. Sadly admitting he wasn’t good at picking out presents, he stowed the tool in its box on the highest pantry shelf. But when I came to visit, he seized the opportunity to buy a loaf of bread so he could demonstrate the slicer.
I grew dubious when reading the claim on the packaging that said, “made with food grade plastic,” conjuring images of swallowing bits of shaved plastic clinging to the bread. I’ve since learned food-grade plastic means your food can touch plastic and it won’t kill you. I’ve also learned that isn’t necessarily true. BPA and phthalates interfere with hormones — BPAs are banned in infant formulas and phthalates are banned in children’s toys. But let those kids get a little older and they can eat anything, according to the FDA.
Hasn’t the rapid spread of Covid 19 taught us something about our overall national health?
What’s wrong with our health? you wonder. When so many places in the world have undrinkable water, at least we have the Clean Water Act, right? Well… Thailand has imposed such strict water pollution regulations that a Thai company is coming to the US to build their micro-plastic plant that will dump micro-plastic particles into the Ohio River, water source for 30 million people. Ohio even granted them money, thinking they’d hire unemployed coal miners, literally a dying breed from inhaling coal dust.
Speaking of coal dust, the petroleum industry is now showing how green they are by planning to get out of the fossil fuel business. But that doesn’t mean they’re unconcerned with how they get their petroleum into our bodies. — they’ll be using it to power up their plastic businesses. And they’ve already shown what they can do — more than 74K micro-plastic particles are inhaled and swallowed annually. They can even find their way into the fetus of a pregnant animal..
Many of us wonder how we can ever be truly healthy if the air, water and soil are not. In the year of Covid gone amok, the public has shown new interest in boosting immune systems to fight off viruses. A healthy mind in a healthy body needs healthy water, air and soil where healthy food can grow, right?
Of course, and all over the world, researchers who care about the environment are looking into biodegradable packaging, using plant materials instead of petroleum to make plastic-like pellets. And even if there’s plastic in KFC’s fried chicken, the company now offers a coffee cup made out of a cookie.
Let’s hope the egg in the cookie dough doesn’t contain plastic.
