Plastic Food Packaging from Five Countries Contains Endocrine- and Metabolism-Disrupting Chemicals

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Toxicology
• Endocrinology

Background:

• Plastics are complex chemical mixtures with known links between certain chemicals and adverse health effects.
• The composition and toxicity of real-world plastic chemical mixtures remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the chemical composition and endocrine-disrupting potential of plastic food contact articles.
• To identify specific chemical features associated with nuclear receptor activity in plastics.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of chemicals from 36 plastic food contact articles using nontarget high-resolution mass spectrometry.
• Reporter-gene assays were used to assess activity on four key nuclear receptors: PXR, PPARγ, ERα, and AR.

Main Results:

• Prevalence of chemicals activating PXR, PPARγ, ERα, and inhibiting AR in plastic packaging.
• Detection of up to 9936 chemical features per product, with unique chemical fingerprints for each.
• Identification of chemical features linked to receptor activity using stepwise partial least-squares regressions.

Conclusions:

• Most plastic food packaging contains endocrine- and metabolism-disrupting chemicals.
• Chemical simplification of plastic packaging is essential for reducing associated toxicity and enhancing safety.