Recycled Plastics are a Nightmare Concoction of BPA & Phthalates, But Recycling Makes a Great Cover Story for ‘Greenwashing’ the Plastics Industry
Keeping plastic bottles out of the landfills and waterways is a conscious, sustainable pursuit; however, these plastic chemicals are often recycled into new packaging materials, creating an unknown blend of synthetic chemicals that leech into the food supply, harming human health. While trying to protect the environment, we may inadvertently be harming ourselves, and the regulatory agencies are asleep at the wheel on the issue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is facing mounting criticism over its lack of oversight concerning the recycled plastics that are used in new food packaging. Researchers warn that chemical companies are practically regulating themselves, incorporating a nightmare concoction of phthalates and BPA into recycled plastics. Unknown combinations of synthetic chemicals are being intermixed into new food packaging materials, ensuring that the current food supply is full of endocrine-disrupting carcinogens. To make matters worse, the FDA’s approval process does not adequately safeguard against the potential risks of toxic chemicals leaching into food products.
FDA’s review of recycled plastics is a voluntary process that allows companies to do whatever they want
Since the early 1990s, the FDA has approved over 340 voluntary applications for food contact materials made from recycled plastics, with the number of approvals increasing significantly in recent years. Approvals for recycled plastic products have tripled since 2019, going from 7-8 approvals per year prior to 2019 to an average of 23 approvals per year since.
For example, major companies like Coca-Cola and General Mills have adopted recycled plastics for their products, including Coca-Cola’s 100% recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and General Mills’ Annie’s cereal boxes with 35% recycled plastic liners.
Companies that seek approvals include some of the biggest petrochemical companies around, including Eastman Chemicals, DuPont and Indorama. These manufacturers, along with companies from India and China, exert significant influence over regulators, especially when so much money is put into plastic recycling in the first place. Moving new products in the cheapest recycled plastic is the ultimate goal, as companies want to appear sustainable, while reaping max profits.
This is why the FDA’s approval process for these materials has been criticized for its lack of rigor and transparency. Unlike other regulatory processes, the FDA’s review of recycled plastics is voluntary, meaning companies are not required to submit comprehensive safety data or undergo mandatory testing unless they choose to. The FDA’s reliance on industry-provided data is insufficient for identifying potential health hazards.
Recycled plastics are a BPA and phthalate nightmare
Researchers have pointed out that recycled plastics may contain a cocktail of toxic chemicals that may leach into food products. Studies indicate that recycled PET, commonly used in bottles, can harbor substances like bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates and other hazardous chemicals at higher levels than virgin PET. These substances are linked to various health issues, including endocrine disruption, cancer and developmental problems.
Dr. Maricel Maffini, a scientist with Environmental Health News, argues that the FDA’s approach to approving recycled plastics is “very lax.” The agency primarily concerns itself with pathogen contamination rather than the complex chemical mixtures present in recycled materials.
The recycling process itself introduces additional complexities. Recycled plastics are often collected from mixed sources, including potentially hazardous items like pesticide containers. Furthermore, the degradation of plastics during recycling may necessitate the addition of stabilizers and other chemicals, increasing the risk of harmful substances leaching into food.
FDA spokesperson Enrico Dinges, defends the agency’s review process for having “stringent scientific guidelines” and says the agency has the capability to conduct spot tests if necessary. However, Professor Tom Zoeller from the University of Massachusetts Amherst says the FDA’s approach is outdated, noting that its safety standards are based on evaluating single chemicals rather than the complex mixtures found in recycled plastics. Zoeller and others suggest that the FDA should adopt more modern testing methodologies that consider endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the cumulative effects of chemical exposures.
EXCLUSIVE: Tommy Robinson Responds to Being Charged with Terrorism in the UK, Issues Emergency Warning to the West
On the Thursday show Alex Jones spoke with Tommy Robinson who was recently charged with terrorism for rebuking the government’s mass immigration policies.
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Vatican Uses Secular ‘BCE’ Instead of ‘BC’ in English Version of Papal Text, Prompting Outrage
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A number of Catholics have expressed consternation after the Vatican used the non-Christian dating notation “BCE” instead of the Catholic style of “Before Christ” in a papal document.
In recent days, social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) highlighted passages from Pope Francis’ July letter on the role of literature in formation.
Section 12 of the Pope’s text contained two quotations from writers who lived before Christ’s birth, and reads:
This verse contains two quotations: one indirect, from the poet Epimenides (sixth century B.C.E.), and the other direct, from the Phaenomena of the poet Aratus of Soli (third century B.C.E.), who wrote of the constellations and the signs of good and bad weather.
The traditional designations of year dates has been “B.C.,” meaning “before Christ,” and “A.D.,” meaning “anno Domini” or “in the year of Our Lord,” for the time since Christ’s birth. The entire system is thus derived oriented around the birth of Christ.
However, in recent years the terms “before the common era (BCE)” and “common era (CE)” have become commonly used to replace “B.C.” and “A.D.” While BCE and CE largely owe their wider use to Jewish scholars in the 1800s, their use has especially predominated in recent decades in an attempt to divorce mainstream culture from any orientation to Christianity, despite following the Gregorian calendar.
Indeed, use of the BCE/CE terms has been commonly linked to direct attempts to present de-Christianized historical accounts, and has divided opinion accordingly.
Criticism of the Vatican’s use of the term has thus been made, with Catholics accusing the Vatican’s text of being “pernicious” and of representing “apostasy.” Others have suggested that using the term was a genuine, though unfortunate, error.
While many have swiftly criticized the Vatican for employing the terminology, the BCE term only appears in the English translation, with the seven other language versions of the Pope’s letter using the “B.C.” term.
The French version refers to the sixth and third centuries “before Jesus Christ,” as do the Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Arabic translations.
The sole use of the “BCE” term in the English translation would appear to be the result of the officials in the Secretariat of State and the Holy See Press Office tasked with preparing the Pontiff’s discourses and writings for public consumption.
News releases and papal statements from the Vatican come as part of a coordinated effort between office-based officials in the Secretariat of State and staff at the press office. The press office in turn is under the auspices of the Dicastery for Communication.
The predominant language of the Vatican is Italian. English is a widely spoken additional language among a number of clerical and lay officials, particularly with the continued growth of English-speaking Catholic media based at the Vatican.
Despite this, numerous minor inaccuracies and errors regularly appear in the Holy See Press Office’s online releases, with the English translation often being notably out of date and less detailed when contrasted with the daily Italian listings.
“I would classify this under ‘dumb’ rather than ‘evil.’ It’s most likely that the English translator is some woke bureaucrat,” commented Crisis Magazine Editor-in-Chief Eric Sammons. “But it does reflect badly on the Vatican that such people are hired in the first place. Well-run organizations vet their people carefully.”
Problems between various language translations of Vatican texts is not a recent problem, and predates the current pontificate. However, with the Dicastery for Communications receiving one of the largest budgets in the Holy See (some tens of millions of euros), particular attention is justly being given to the proper use of such a sum of money.
US to Give Zelensky ‘Free Hand’ on Deep Strikes into Russia – Moscow
Washington is prepared to lift its ban on Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia’s territory with the use of US-supplied weapons, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Last week, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that US “policy does allow for Ukraine to conduct counter fires to defend itself from Russian attacks coming over that border region,”including Kursk Region, where an incursion by Kiev’s forces has been ongoing since early August.
On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington was aware of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “desire” to be allowed to fire US weapons such as ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 300km (186 miles), deep into Russia. “We will keep the conversations with the Ukrainians going [on the issue], but we are going to keep them private,” he said.
“Extremely serious conclusions” can be drawn from the latest statements coming from Washington, Zakharova said on Friday. “Ukraine has been given a carte blanche for operations in Russian regions,” she added.
Read more UK backs Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles inside Russia – media
“Furthermore, the administration of [US President] Joe Biden is obviously getting ready to make new concessions to Zelensky and give him a free hand to use virtually any type of American weapons, including [for attacks] deep into Russian territory,” the spokeswoman stressed, as cited by RIA Novosti.
Through its continued support for Kiev, Washington “has effectively become a party to the armed conflict over Ukraine,” she insisted.
“The US course towards escalation is becoming increasingly outrageous. It seems that the American elites have cast aside the last vestiges of common sense and believe that anything is allowed to them,” Zakharova said.
Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the US and their allies to “children playing with matches” over their continued speculations about greenlighting Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory. “It is a very dangerous thing to do for grown-ups, who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” he said.
READ MORE: West ‘playing with fire’ – Lavrov
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that Moscow might engage in an asymmetrical response to the US supply of long-range systems to Ukraine, by arming groups or countries hostile to Washington – such as North Korea – with advanced weaponry.
Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Released from Jail on $5 Million Bail, Faces Criminal Charges
PARIS (LifeSiteNews) — Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been released from jail on bail but is forbidden from leaving France and must check in with the French police twice a week.
On Wednesday, August 28, Durov was released on 5 million euros (5,537,620 USD) bail. However, French authorities also indicted Durov on six charges related to allegedly illegal activity on the popular messaging app.
Politico quotes the Paris prosecutor’s office press release, stating that the charges include complicity in managing Telegram “in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group.”
Durov was reportedly also charged with “complicity in the offenses of making available without legitimate reason a program or data designed for… organized gang distribution of images of minors presenting child pornography, drug trafficking.”
READ: Telegram founder tells Tucker Carlson that US intel agents tried to spy on user messages
Telegram “appears in multiple cases involving various offenses (child sexual abuse offenses, trafficking, online hate),” the prosecutor’s office stated, highlighting “Telegram’s almost total failure to respond to judicial requests.”
“When consulted, other French investigation departments and public prosecutors’ offices, as well as various Eurojust partners, notably Belgian, shared the same observation,” the French prosecutor added. “This led… to opening an investigation into the possible criminal responsibility of the managers of this messaging service.”
A French judge will now investigate these charges further.
The prosecutor also mentioned that a preliminary investigation into Telegram and its co-founder had already been opened in February. Politico reports that arrest warrants for both Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai were issued by French authorities in March.
Durov’s lawyer David-Olivier Kaminski said, “The only statement I’d wish to make is that Telegram is in conformity with every aspect of European norms on digital matters. It is absurd to think that the head of a social network is being charged.”
READ: Arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov signals an increasing threat to digital freedom
Durov, who is a Russian, French, and UAE citizen, was arrested on August 24 after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport. His arrest sparked outrage and concern among prominent free speech advocates such as Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson and has triggered diplomatic tensions between France, Russia, and the UAE, with the latter two offering support to Durov.
French President Emmanuel Macron denied the charges of Durov’s arrest being politically motivated.
“The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” Macron wrote on X. “It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.”
However, if one of the main concerns of the prosecution is child sexual abuse and human trafficking allegedly facilitated through Telegram, as it has stated, other social media platforms would need to be charged as well. Reports in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal revealed that social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, knew about its platforms being used to facilitate child sexual exploitation but neglected to solve the issue. Yet, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has faced no legal consequences.
South African Vaccine Injury Group Say Mpox Jabs Are Dangerous, Ineffective & Unnecessary
The South African ‘Vaccine Injury Medico-Legal Study Group‘ (SAVIMS) have declared that they do not support the Africa CDC and WHO declaration of a global health emergency for monkeypox. In a statement issued on August […]
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