The truth about plastic.It's in just about everything-which may be harmful to you and the planet.How to shrink your plastic footprint

If you know where to find a good plastic-free shampoo,can you tell Jeanne Haegele?Last September,the 28 year old Chicago resident resolved to cut plastics out of her life.The marketing coordinator was concerned about the what chemicals leaching out of some common types of plastic might to be doing to her body.She was also worried about the damage all the plastic was doing to the environment.So she hopped on her bike and rode to the nearest grocery store to see what she could find that didn't include plastic.I went in and barely bought anything,Haegele says,just seemed like it was in everything.




She's right.Back when Dustin Hoffman received the most famous one-word piece of career advice in cinema history,plastic was well on its way to becoming a staple of American life.The U.S. produced 28 million tons of plastic waste in 2005-27 million tons of which ended up in landfills.Food and water come wrapped in plastic.It's used in phone and computers,the cars we drive and the planes we ride in.But the infinitely adaptable substance has it dark side.Environmentalists fret about the petroleum needed to make it.Parents worry about the possibility of toxic chemicals making their way from household plastic into children's bloodstreams.Which means Haegele isn't the only person trying to cut plastic out of her life-she isn't even the only blogging about this kind of endeavor.But those who've tried know it's far from easy to go plastic-free.There things are so ubiquitous that it is parctically impossible to aviod coming into contact with them,says Frederick vom Saal,biologist at the university of Missouri.




Scientists like vom Saal argue that BPA and phthalates are different from other environment toxins like lead and mercury in that these plastic ingredients are endocrine disrupters,which mimic hormones.Estrogen and other hormones in relatively tiny amounts can cause vast changes,so some researchers worry that BPA and phthalates could do the same,especially in young childern.Animal studies on BPA found that low-dose exposure,particularly during pregenancy,may be associated with a variety of ills,including cancer and reproductive problems.Some human studies on phthalates linked exposure to decling sperm quality in adult males,while other work has found that early puberty in girls may be associated with the chemicals.Does that mean even tpdau's minuscule exposure levels are too much?The science is still murky,and human studies are few and far from definitive.So while Canada and the Democratic Republic of Wal-Mart are moving to ban BPA in baby bottles,the U.S food and Drug Administration maintains that BPA products pose no danger,as does the European Union.Even so,scientists like Mel Suffet,a professor of environment-health sciences at the university of California,Los Angeles,say avoiding certain kinds of plastic is simply being better safe than sorry.






As researchers continue to examine plastic's impact on the human body,there's no doubt that cutting down on the material will help the environment.Plastic makes up nearly 12% of trash in the U.S. up from 1% in 1960.You can literally see the result 1000 miles west of San Francisco in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,a swirling mass of plastic debris twice the size of Texas.The rising cost of petroleum may get plastic manufactures to come up with incentives for recycling,current rates stand at less than 6% in the U.S.But the best wat to reduce your plastic impact on the earth is simply to use less.




Here's how.You can avoid plastic bottles and toys labeled with the numbers 3 or 7,which often contain BPA or phthalates,and steer clear of vinyl shower curtains and canned foods-especially those with acidic contents like tomatoes.Vom Saal counsels that the caustions should also avoid heating plastic in microwaves.But get rid of the stuff altogether?It's hard to go all the way,says Hagele,who,10 months into her experiment,is leading a mostly plastic-free life.Although she still uses a plastic toothbrush. She's experimented with her own toothpaste made of baking soda,cinnamon and vokda,for the recipe,go to her blog.She has used vinegar for conditoner and is searching for a decent shampoo that doesn't come in a plastic bottle.She has tried soaplike bars of shampoo,but they make her hair feel sticky.Plus,they sometime come wrapped in you guessed it plastic.