A Plastic World - BPA'd To Death

"I have seen the results of this culture's quest for immortality, and these results are not pretty. We have achieved a sort of immortality, and it's name is plastic."    Derrick Jensen

But this 'immortality' is killing everything, including us!

From the book, What We Leave Behind by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay

Industrial civilization pumps out about 6 billion pounds of BPA per year, and it's found in nearly every human being, and presumably a similar proportion of nonhumans (not that most of us particularly care about them). The effects on living beings are horrific. Exposure levels of only .025 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (at this point low levels of human exposure from diet are around 1.5 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, and relatively high levels are around 13; of course prior to the invention of plastic, everyone's ingestion was at precisely zero micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day) cause permanent changes to the genital tract, as well as changes in breast tissue that predispose cells to the effects of hormones and carcinogens. Two micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day lead to a 30 percent increased in prostate weight (have you wondered why there are so many ads for chemicals to reduce the effects of enlarged prostates?). At 2.4, the victims (for that's what they, or rather we, are) suffer early puberty and a decline in testicular testosterone. At 2.5, there is an increased risk of breast cancer (and you have noticed the explosion in breast cancer rates, have you not?). Doses of 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day lead to increased risk of prostate cancer (Do I need to keep putting in the parenthetical comments, or do you see this now in your own life and the lives of those you love?). That same does leads to decreases in maternal behavior. Double it and you've got damage to eggs and chromosomes. Raise it up to thirty micrograms per kilogram per day and you've got hyperactivity, and also a reversal of normal sex differences in brain structure (where are those damn family values people when you need them?). Raise it all the way up to fifty-one micrograms per kilogram and you've finally exceeded what the United Stated deems safe exposure.

The real kicker: 51 MICROGRAMS PER KILOGRAM AND YOU'VE FINALLY EXCEEDED WHAT THE UNITED STATES DEEMS SAFE EXPOSURE! This is a good reminder that the US government certainly is not looking out for my best interests!