DANGERS OF PAPER, STYROFOAM & PLASTIC CUPS Varun Nagpal, an IT professional working in Technopark, was having an upset stomach. While normal medical checks revealed nothing wrong in him, deeper probes revealed that his stomach had collected significant amounts of wax & toxins. Doctors identified the villian, the ordinary disposable paper cups he used for drinking his tea at his office pantry five times every day. In modern times, we are excessively using disposable paper cups in exchange for our convenience while ignoring its harmful side effects. If we drink any hot drink from a foam cup or plastic cup it is even more lethal. Paper cups A century ago paper cups were invented as a simple cost-effective innovation that reduced disease transmission. Paper cups are coated with polyethylene for insulation and durability. Low quality paper cup are coated with wax to prevent paper getting soaked. Every time we pour hot beverage in a Paper cup usually with a plastic lid a bit of wax and toxic chemicals melt and get into your digestive tract along with our hot drink. Our stomach and digestive tract collect significant amounts of wax and chemicals while using these paper cups daily. In the long run, his can lead to gastrointestinal disorders and other health issues. In addition, it is a suspected carcinogen. All paper cup lids leads to chemical poisoning by reaction of hot fluids with plastic. There are definite standards to follow while manufacturing these disposable paper cups. This ensures that paper cups do not become toxic when soaked in hot liquids. However, most manufacturers do not follow these guidelines. In order to reduce the cost of paper cups production, they can use industrial wax and harmful waste plastic, which again may not meet the standards. When melamine adhesive on the seam of the cup comes into close contact with our hot drink it begins to dissolve & its trace make their way into our drink in the cup. These melamine then invades your body with each sip. Over time, the chemicals from the adhesive accumulate in your body, leading to serious illness, including potential kidney failure. Foam Tea Cup Styrene is used to make polystyrene foam plastic cup and foam food trays & packages. These include coffee cups, soup bowls and salad boxes, flight lunch packs etc. Because polystyrene foam cup & food containers are so common we assume they are safe, and that GOI agency, would not allow a health-threatening product to be marketed to the public. We will be shocked to know that the foam cups apparently lose weight during the time they are at use. The studies showed that tea with lemon produced the most reduction in the weight of the foam cup. When we pour hot drink in our foam cup migration of styrene into the beverage can be as high as 0.025% for a single use. If we drink beverages from polystyrene cups four times a day for three years, we may have consumed about one foam cups worth of styrene along with our hot drink. Reheating food is foam containers in microwave increases threat of toxicity. There is still a toxin threat even if we heat those food items in a conventional oven. Polystyrene built up can adversely affect humans in a number of ways fatigue, nervousness, difficulty in sleeping, low platelet, lymphatic abnormalities and carcinogenic effects. Plastic Cups Medical experts suggest following for avoiding cancer : 1.Do not take tea or any other hot drinks in plastic cups. 2.Do not heat foodstuffs in a microwave in a plastic container. REMEMBER when plastic gets into contact with heat, it produces chemicals which may cause 52 types of cancer. Toxicity due to plastic cups have shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans. Environment cost : These paper cups, styrofoam cups & trays and plastic cups also have harmful effects on the environment. Most of these disposable products do not decompose in a landfill. The polyethylene that is used in preparing many brands of cups is made from petroleum or natural gas. It is not biodegradable therefore accumulates. Moreover, this plastic resin prevents recycling of paper cups, which in turn demands more paper, harming the environment again, in the form of deforestation. If we are talking about resource use, manufacturing paper cups requires many trees while processing consumes energy, water, and chemicals. The real cost of billions of paper cups used yearly by world is nearly losing millions of tons of wood, wasting billions of gallons of water, and generating millions kilogram of waste. Every tree used for paper cups is also removed from the ecosystem and can no longer absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, or filter groundwater leading to greater pollution. Most cups use high-quality bleached virgin paperboard. Recently, some coffee shops have claimed cups with recycled content. While these do reduce new wood consumption, they may be hyped more than merited. Govt agencies world wide regulates recycled content to ensure cup safety to 10% recycled content and 90% new paper is the maximum allowed. Solution to : So what can be done about it? We must start using our own stainless steel, ceramic mug or glass container at office & coffee outlets. Study show that stainless steel cups become more environmentally friendly options once they have been used 25 times. So we should start bringing our own mug to your favorite coffee bar. We should also warn our friends about the very real danger of paper, plastic & foam cups. Coffee shops & all offices should offer some financial incentive to customers or staff who fill their own cup. In our blessed Bharat culture we used to depend entirely on Mithi containers for storing, cooling & drinking water. Even hot drinks like tea is so tasty when served in single time use Mithi Kulad. These were environmentally friendly & so easily disposable. CA Dinesh Gupta @dkgdelhi
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 13:27:46 +0000
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