A final laboratory report issued by the Denison Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles at Davis, U.S. reports on the migration of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) from children’s plastic plates and cups into food simulants. 100 % ethanol, 10:90 % (v/v) ethanol: water and 100 % water were used as food simulants to measure migration from 38 samples of plastic products. A bioassay based on recombinant human ovarian cells producing the firefly luciferase protein in the presence of estrogen-like compounds (BG1Luc4E2) was used to detect estrogenic activity. Estrogen activity was found in some, but not all of the 100 % ethanol extracts. Interestingly, higher luciferase activity was detected for 10 % ethanol extracts than for 100 % ethanol extracts in some samples. Even higher levels of luciferase induction was found for some of the 100 % water extract samples. The researchers conclude that the presence of estrogen active chemicals in plastic children’s tableware raises safety concerns. Furthermore, the incubation with 100 % water can induce detectable migration of xenoestrogens. Further studies are need to specifically identify and characterize the migrating xenoestrogens.
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He, G. et al. (January 28, 2014). “Detection of Estrogenic Activity in Plastic Cups and Plates.” Denison Laboratory, UCLA at Davis, U.S..
