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Comment by DoingIsLearning | Hacker News Reader

I always feel these compound descriptions lack intuition for non Chemistry majors.

The coumpound described 'Phtalates' is a technically a plasticizer. A lot of plastic structures are naturally brittle, the purpose of Phtalates is to intercalate in the lattice of the plastic structure and give it some flex.

So even if you are using Phtalate free plastic, assume that if it has some flex it will likely just have some other chemically similar plasticizer. So as a general precautionery principle avoid plastic all together until we have a better picture of the science around it.

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Avoid plastic? Is that even a possibility nowadays?

To some extent. Cotton or wool instead of synthetics. Glass food containers instead of plastic. Wood toys instead of plastic.

Good luck buying meat or vegetables in a supermarket which isn't wrapped in plastic.

Find a local butcher who wraps in paper? That paper coating may be plastic, though, unless they use waxed. Veggies are often loose at eg Whole Foods. You can get your milk in glass bottles pretty easily.

It’s likely easier in Europe, but it’s feasible in at least some parts of the US, depending on where you live.

It takes paying attention, but once you adjust your habits, it gets a bit easier.

You can probably get a lot of mileage out of just not heating your food in contact with plastic. You’re not going to eliminate all exposure, probably want to focus on the likely highest impact parts.

Most supermarkets sell veggies loose, but even most people avoiding the standard plastic bags will put them in nylon mesh bags instead, not sure what your option there would be, but there's probably some cotton based bag you could find. Meat can usually be bought at larger stores from the butcher counter in butcher paper. However some butcher papers are treated so might be some more research needed three.

However many studies that make headlines like this are flawed bunk, so I'm not sure I'd waste my time with such efforts until there's clear consensus.

We used to think Teflon and the like were fine, until we found these compounds lasting basically forever in the environment and interacting with proteins.

In my opinion, a better default is to avoid when possible although its difficult to escape them everywhere. We are surrounded by plastics, and for good reason. They've done amazing things especially in the medical field.

There's pretty solid consensus that phthalates disrupt the endocrine system, particularly testosterone production.

https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2014/r...

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