First, let’s take the question from the beginning. What are endocrine disruptors? It’s a term we hear often, but we don’t know everything that falls into this category of evil-sounding compounds. Why are they considered dangerous? And above all, where are they found, and how can they be avoided as much as possible?
What are endocrine disruptors?
In order:
- Endocrine = related to your hormonal system
- Disruptive = that disturbs (yeah, until then, you would have figured it out by yourself!)
So, endocrine disruptors are chemicals that disrupt the normal functioning of your hormonal system. It may not sound like much to you, but it can affect growth, fertility, brain development, and much more! To make it even worse, you should know that it is because of endocrine disruptors that on the Basque coast, some male fish (mullets to be precise…) develop feminine characteristics…
You will agree that minimizing our exposure to these things would be worthwhile, but how? What are these compounds, and where are they found?
Substances are present everywhere…
Ouch. When we say everywhere, it’s really everywhere…
Bisphenol A, Phthalates, PFOA, Parabens, Phenols, Formaldehyde… The list of endocrine disruptors (or substances suspected of being endocrine disruptors) is long and full of words impossible to place in Scrabble. Here is a short but not exhaustive list of their unnatural habitat… :
Paints, coatings or glues often contain solvents, fluorinated compounds or phthalates.
Fabrics treated against stains, or fireproof materials (like the foam of your sofa for example…) are impregnated with brominated or fluorinated compounds.
In your kitchen, plastic accessories or non-stick coatings on your pots and pans also contain fluorinated compounds. And if, as is often the case, you’ve scratched the bottom a bit over time, these compounds wander off and end up on your plate, then I say this…
In your kitchen, always watch out for plastic boxes! Bisphenol A (also called BPA), which was among the most known endocrine disruptors, has been banned since 2015 in food containers, but plastic boxes can contain phthalates, released in your food, especially when heating! And, if you didn’t know it, all take-away drink cups (McDonald’s, Starbucks, and tutti quanti), as well as all cans, wrappers, and papers wrapping greasy stuff (hamburger boxes, butcher or cheese shop papers… ), are covered with a layer of plastic inside (otherwise, you would have your Caramel-Cinnamon Latte Macchiato on your jeans, your Coke would be gnawing on the cans, and your chicken skewers from the butcher shop would be flavored with paper mache… And who says plastic layer says endocrine disruptors (especially with the heat of your Macchiato, which releases them even faster). Because of this plastic layer, the “cardboard” cups are not recyclable…
Food itself contains endocrine disruptors: fruits, vegetables, or cereals grown traditionally (therefore with pesticides…) or meat and fatty fish (which have eaten things grown with pesticides…). Moreover, the bigger the fish is (and therefore the higher it is in the food chain), the more it will be contaminated (endocrine disruptors, metals – like mercury for example…) – this is what we call bio-concentration: the big fish eats medium-sized fish that have eaten lots of small contaminated fish… We avoid eating tuna or salmon at every meal…
Phthalates and parabens are in the composition of a great majority of cosmetic and hygiene products. So read the label of your shower gel, the composition is not very attractive… And to think that you spread it on your skin every day…
Plastic toys for children also contain phthalates (and considering the time they spend in your children’s mouths… remember, potential growth or development problems…)
Detergents and cleaning products are full of not-so-nice substances: solvents, and chlorinated or fluorinated compounds…
Even electronics contain endocrine disruptors, in the form of flame retardants, just in case… televisions, boxes, decoders, DVD players, computers, telephones, cables…
Is it possible to avoid them?
Completely? No. Especially since most of these substances have not been sufficiently studied for their effects, especially carcinogenic ones, to be scientifically recognized…
But you have plenty of ways to limit your exposure! Here are a few tips:
In the bathroom: Limit the number of products and cosmetics you use, and favor organic products. Ideally, we switch back to soap in the shower, to solid shampoo, or even better, to solid toothpaste (we already told you about it!), which will permanently save parabens and plastic packaging!
We replace our old pots and pans (which we avoid destroying with a fork!), and we prefer wooden utensils.
Switch to simple cleaning products! Instead of buying 10 bottles of degreasers, floor cleaners, and anti-limescale sprays, we use white vinegar for example! It’s magic, not dangerous, super cheap, and it removes limescale in no time!
We switch off our electronic devices when we have finished using them! We said turned off, not put on standby!
We prefer organic food which, if it is not perfect, is still much less harmful to you, and especially it is a choice of consumption that allows us to take a little more care of the planet! And then buy a BPA-free water bottle to avoid plastic water bottles (if you didn’t know, after a few weeks after bottling, the plastic of the bottles starts to release not very nice compounds in the water…) You can also read our article on how to choose an eco-friendly water bottle.
We limit plastic toys made in China for children and switch to wooden toys. In fact, they do not really need to have 7482!
We choose adapted products for DIY, and we wash our new clothes before the first use!
We stop reheating our lunch box in the microwave directly in an old Carte d’Or box! We put everything on a plate first! And while we’re at it, we also buy an isothermal mug to avoid those evil non-recyclable cups when we take a coffee to go!
We avoid burning in our fireplace or in our barbecue painted pieces of wood or plastic things, making fumes unpleasant (neither for you, nor for the neighbors…)
Finally, remember that European standards also exist to protect you, and that buying cheap is maybe good, but it can expose you to some compounds that would not be allowed if your products had been made in France…