Monthly Archives: April 2011

The Ongoing BPA Battle

The plastics industry has been touting a recent study by German researchers that concluded that the chemical bisphenol A is safe.  Written by an advisory committee to the German Society of Toxicology, the report was based on a review of … Continue reading

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For Earth Day: Count Your Plastic and Make it Count

In Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, I describe how I planned to spend a day not touching any plastic, only to be foiled first thing that morning by my plastic toilet seat. So I spent the day making a list … Continue reading

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The Bag versus the Bay

Here’s a great video from San Francisco’s Save the Bay: watch?v=jSD21zp89zM&feature=player_embedded

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Earth Day Actions

When you start taking a  hard look at plastics, it often leads you in new and unexpected directions. For instance, you may start wondering about packaging. You stand there with quartet of cucumbers nestled on a plastic tray, cocooned in … Continue reading

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Weird plastic fads

Thankfully this one failed. Why, you may ask, are these women wearing plastic beaks? To protect their faces from falling snow!  Luckily, in case of cone-failure we could always fall back on the hat.

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It’s official

Plastic: A Toxic Love Story is out. This is a sight that warms my heart:

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Fun plastic facts

Here, in no particular order, are some interesting factoids about plastic. I’d love to hear any that you know. Bakelite was invented to replace shellac, then in high demand as an electrical insulator. But supplies were running short as it … Continue reading

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Are phthalates safe?

The Huffington Post has a piece today by Jon Entine who argues there’s no scientific basis for continuing concerns about the health effects of phthalates, a family of chemicals that are ubiquitous in consumer goods, widely used as plasticizers, lubricants … Continue reading

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News from the South Pacific

Earlier this week I spoke by satellite phone with Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins, co-founders of 5 Gyres, an organization created to do research and public education on the problem of plastic pollution. By now, the “garbage patch” in the … Continue reading

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Toxic Love Story objects – The comb

The photos here and on the following posts give a sense of some of the objects I used to tell the story of plastic. The comb exemplifies the extraordinary imitative powers of the plastic celluloid. It was used to mimic … Continue reading

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