Phthalates how can I avoid them?

[wodgina]

Phthalates how can I avoid them? ladies if you were pregnant would you take special steps before or after conception to avoid these?

All my meat is wrapped in soft plastic. I can either forget about it and just eat RPD or work out a way to reduce it. I could imediatley bring my meat home and wash it.

The only way to totally avoid them would be to have my own farm. butcher in the dirt and just wash the dirt off.

Thoughts?

ps phthalates are endocrine disrupters or 'gender bending' chemicals.

[sabertooth]

as soon as you get it home take the plastic off and store it in Pyrex container, the longer the plastic is in contact with your meat the more chemicals can leach onto the food.

Anything you can do to lighten the load of endocrine disruptor's should be done,

don't handle the store receipts

http://www.ewg.org/bpa-in-store-receipts

3% BPA by weight highly toxic

[Ioanna]

what if the meat is quickly frozen upon packaging?... do you think freezing slows the leeching into the meat?  i would think (hope) it would.  even from my farmer, meats are packaged in plastic, but i would guess they freeze this stuff pretty quickly as opposed to a grocery store where it may sit for however long is allowed in a cold box?

[Rob]

What about the plastics used in the cryovac packs? Are these phthalate loaded as well? I thought it was mostly the very soft wrap used on fresh meats that was the main culprit.

[wodgina]

what if the meat is quickly frozen upon packaging?... do you think freezing slows the leeching into the meat?  i would think (hope) it would.  even from my farmer, meats are packaged in plastic, but i would guess they freeze this stuff pretty quickly as opposed to a grocery store where it may sit for however long is allowed in a cold box?

This is one way I rationalized it to myself. I would say it slows it down quite a bit. The thicker plastic would be the best I imagine where as cling wrap woulp be the worst. I'm considering asking my butcher to put all my meat into one big bag (so as to reduce surface area) and take it out immediatley once home.

Or bring my own waxed paper bags for them to fill up.

[wodgina]

I'm thinking thongs (flip flops) are probably pretty bad for Biphenols/phthalates as well. I wear them a lot. I need to find a fashionable but natural substitute, I think the make my heels crack.

[Ioanna]

This is one way I rationalized it to myself. I would say it slows it down quite a bit. The thicker plastic would be the best I imagine where as cling wrap woulp be the worst. I'm considering asking my butcher to put all my meat into one big bag (so as to reduce surface area) and take it out immediatley once home.

Or bring my own waxed paper bags for them to fill up.

gosh, just think too.. most people (at least this what i see at work) microwave food in all kinds of plastic wraps/containers.

[Ioanna]

I'm thinking thongs (flip flops) are probably pretty bad for Biphenols/phthalates as well. I wear them a lot. I need to find a fashionable but natural substitute, I think the make my heels crack.

oh, i never thought about that! i wear slides all the time! my heels are very cracked/dry, but i always thought it was the chlorine.

[Raw Kyle]

I've found some sandals made mostly of hemp before.

[raw-al]

Or bring my own waxed paper bags for them to fill up.

My butcher uses brown paper to wrap it.
For further reading:
http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/
I stumbled onto it at the library. The authors are from the province I live in in Canada.

[Brother]

Dont eat fish

[raw-al]

Why

[Brother]

Why

Well, I should specify. don't eat fish unless you know it is a pristine source. Why? Because we are filthy pigs and our plastic droppings are everywhere. As one pet concern of mine we have a plastic patch the size of Texas floating around in our oceans. It does not degrade, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces which finds its way into the food chain. Due to concern about the heavy metal spiced plastic soup in which a lot of fish grow up. Even our official health gurus here has told people to not overdo it untill we know the excact nature of the beast.

[infinitenexus]

My butcher uses brown paper to wrap it.
For further reading:
http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/
I stumbled onto it at the library. The authors are from the province I live in in Canada.

I'm actually reading this book right now.  Really a great book, although slightly disturbing.  The extent to which we are surrounded by harmful chemicals in modern life is pretty mind-blowing.