ACSH - Innocent Plastics Wrongly Blamed For Belly Bulge
ACSH staffers offer Wall Street Journal reporter Allysia Finley
a seat at the table for her piece underscoring the lack of evidence
supporting the claim that phthalates and BPA have contributed to
the obesity epidemic. According to Stephen Perrine and Heather
Hurlock, authors of The New American Diet, “obesogenic” foodsÂ
— those containing pesticides and plastics — allow our bodies to
store more fat. As Ms. Finley aptly points out, however, these
chemicals have been prevalent for over 50 years, while obesity did
not significantly increase until about 1980.
Chemist Dr. Joe Schwarcz at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ’s Office for Science
and Society further debunks claims that the trace levels of
chemicals found in foods have an effect on obesity. “Every day
people are exposed to hundreds of thousands of natural and
artificial chemicals which would show very similar effects if run
through these sensitive tests,” he tells the Journal.