Which type of plastic is toxic, which type of plastic is safe for food?

So is there a way to distinguish toxic plastics and is there a way to detox when the body has been contaminated with microplastics?

How to distinguish toxic plastic or not?

According to Dr˳ BS Truong Hong Son – director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, safe plastic is plastic that does not contain harmful chemicals (for example, BPA causes cancer, obesity, infertility, …) ˳

There are 7 common types of plastic commonly used today˳ People can distinguish plastics based on the symbols printed on the bottom of plastic bottles/boxes with numbers from 1-7˳ These numbers represent the classification of plastics and indicate which types should and should not be used˳

No˳1: PET plastic, also known as PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) is a common plastic commonly used to store liquid foods such as drinking water, soft drinks, condiments (eg fish sauce, soy sauce),…

PET plastic is quite safe at normal temperature, but should only be used once and should not be reused because the bottle is easy to attract odors and germs˳ PET plastic is also easy to deform, bend when exposed to high temperatures and absorb toxins in plastic into food˳

No˳ 2: HDP or HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) is the best and safest plastic for food storage˳ This type of plastic has many advantages such as high temperature resistance (120 degrees Celsius for a short time, 110 degrees Celsius for a long time), no toxicity, not affected by the external environment, ˳˳ ˳

No˳3PVC plastic is a flexible, versatile plastic but contains a lot of harmful chemicals such as phthalates (hindering hormone growth and fertility), bisphenol A (BPA),…

PVC plastic is often used to produce many items such as plastic bags, food wrap, water bottles, toys, …

This type of plastic, when exposed to high temperatures, will absorb toxins into food, so this is not a safe plastic to store food, especially hot food˳ Therefore, it is not recommended to wrap food with PVC film in the microwave at high temperature

4: LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) plastic is also a non-toxic plastic, resistant to high temperatures (95 degrees Celsius for a short time) but less durable than HDPE in terms of physical properties (fragility, poor impact resistance, etc˳)˳ ˳˳)˳

This is the type commonly used to produce plastic bags, nylon gloves, chemical bottles, etc˳ This type of plastic should also be used at high temperatures˳

5: PP (Polypropylene) plastic is the best heat-resistant plastic (130-170 degrees Celsius) so it is commonly used to make food containers˳ Therefore, it is considered to have good heat resistance, does not produce toxicity, and is safe to use when storing hot food or rotating in the microwave˳

Number 6: PS (Polystyrene) plastic is a very cheap and light plastic˳ This type of plastic is used to make disposable food containers or disposable plastic cups˳

Although it is heat resistant, it can still absorb toxins into foods under the influence of high temperatures or foods containing strong acids/alkali˳ Therefore, it is not safe to store food˳ Therefore, PS plastic should not be used to store hot food˳

Number 7: PC plastic is cheap and extremely toxic plastic˳ This type of plastic is often used to produce chemical containers or water bottles˳ When hot food is stored, hazardous substances can be diffused into the food (e˳g˳ BPA)˳

According to Dr˳ Truong Hong Son, plastics with symbols 1, 2, 4 and 5 are safe to store food˳ Plastics with symbols 3, 6, 7 should be avoided to ensure the health of consumers˳

Is it possible to detox after loading microplastics into the body?

Due to the prevalence of plastic products in daily life, especially unsafe plastic materials cause microplastic contamination in most of the population˳ Dr˳ Son recommends that when microplastic enters the body, it will accumulate in parts of the body such as the liver, lungs, … and there is almost no way to eliminate plastic toxins from the human body˳

However, according to Dr˳ Hong Son, there are still ways to reduce the harmful effects of microplastics on human health, you can avoid using single-use plastic such as straws, plastic cups, plastic containers, … and plastics with symbols 3, 6, 7 for storing food, especially hot food, or for storing food in a microwave oven˳

“Preference will be given to plastics with symbols 1, 2, 4, 5 for food storage, to ensure safety for health” – Dr˳ Son noted˳

Tourists need to be pioneers in reducing plastic waste

That is the opinion of Mr˳ Vu The Binh – chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association – when discussing the story of reducing plastic waste in tourism to create a green tourism environment˳