To quote the poet Taylor Swift: “This is why we can’t have nice things.” Or cheap things, in this case.
A recent study found that black plastic contains harmful chemicals that could lead to health complications.
It’s time to throw out your black plastic utensils
You know those black plastic utensils and cookware you can find basically everywhere? Yeah, it’s time to throw those away.
In fact, it might be a good idea to ditch all your plastic cookware — those microplastics aren’t doing you any good.
A sturdy revealed something concerning about black plastic
Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth, published one of the first papers detailing the dangers of black plastic back in 2018. In the paper, he revealed that black plastic products are likely being made from recycled electronic waste.
I don’t have to tell you how bad that is
Andrew noted that black plastic, in particular, contained abnormal levels of flame retardants. Those same chemicals keep things like computers — or TVs — from catching fire.
There’s no solution for separating it out yet
According to The Atlantic, which broke the story, recycling facilities simply don’t have the equipment to detect flame-retardant materials and separate them out.
And what’s more, black plastic is in high demand. Look around your house — I bet you can find a ton of black plastic you never thought twice about.
Flame retardants spread easily
We all know about the growing issue of microplastics. But with black plastic products, the danger is high: flame retardants spread more easily than plastic treated without them and can even easily end up in your cooking oil.
It can do all sorts of damage to your body
From messing with your hormones to thyroid disease to cancer, flame retardants do nothing but damage to the human body.
People whose bodies had high levels of flame retardant thanks to the plastic experienced a 300% increase in their risk of dying from cancer.
And kitchen utensils have some of the highest concentrations
Spatulas, forks, ladles — if it’s black plastic, it needs to go. A recent study found that kitchen utensils in particular contain some of the highest levels of flame retardants.
It’s not just utensils
Other food or food-adjacent products contained dangerous levels of flame retardants, including black plastic sushi trays.
Kids are also at risk
“A product with one of the highest levels of flame retardants were black plastic pirate coin beads that kids wear — they resemble Mardi Gras beads but more for costume wear,” Megan Liu at Toxic-Free Future said.
The amount wasn’t small, either
“That particular product had up to 22,800 parts per million of total flame retardants — that’s almost 3% by weight,” she added.
Yeah, I’m going to be getting rid of black plastic everything in my house now.
