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A recent study that recommended toxic chemicals in black plastic products be immediately thrown away included a math error that significantly overstated the risks of contamination, but its authors are standing by their conclusions and warn against using such products. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Chemosphere , experts from the nonprofit Toxic-Free Future said they detected flame retardants and other toxic chemicals in 85% of 203 items made of black plastic including kitchen utensils , take-out containers, children's toys and hair accessories. In a blog post, Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Canada, explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it's actually about one-tenth of that. (Dreamstime/TNS) The study initially said the potential exposure to chemicals found in one of the kitchen utensils approached the minimum levels the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a health risk. But in an update to the study, the authors say they made an error in their calculations and the real levels were "an order of magnitude lower" than the EPA's thresholds. The error was discovered by Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society in Canada. In a blog post, Schwarcz explained that the Toxin-Free Future scientists miscalculated the lower end of what the EPA considered a health risk through a multiplication error. Instead of humans being potentially exposed to a dose of toxic chemicals in black plastic utensils near the minimum level that the EPA deems a health risk, it's actually about one-tenth of that. Though Schwarcz said the risks outlined in the study aren't enough for him to discard his black plastic kitchen items if he had them, he agreed with the authors that flame retardants shouldn't be in these products in the first place. "The math error does not impact the study's findings, conclusions or recommendations," said Megan Liu, a co-author of the study who is the science and policy manager for Toxic-Free Future . She added that any traces of flame retardants or toxic chemicals in cooking utensils should be concerning for the public. Flame retardants are getting into commonly used items because black-colored products are being made from recycled electronic waste, such as discarded television sets and computers, that frequently contain the additives. When they're heated, the flame retardants and other toxic chemicals can migrate out. If you're wondering whether your old black plastic spoon or other utensils are a part of this group, Liu shared some more guidance. It's nearly impossible to know whether a black plastic product is contaminated. That's because these products that include recycled e-waste don't disclose a detailed list of all ingredients and contaminants in the product. Liu said it's also unclear how many types of flame retardants are in these black plastic products. Some of the products that researchers tested in this recent study "had up to nine different harmful chemicals and harmful flame retardants in them," she said. Anytime you're looking for the type of recycled plastic a product is made of you're going to look for a number within the chasing arrows (that form a triangle) logo. Recycling symbols are numbered 1 to 7 and we commonly associate the numbers with what we can toss in our blue recycling bins. The 1 through 7 numbers stand for, respectively, polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene or Styrofoam, and miscellaneous plastics (including polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass and nylon). The study found higher levels of toxic flame retardants in polystyrene plastic, which is labeled with the number 6, said Liu. There isn't a definitive timeline of when recycled electronic-waste started to be incorporated into black plastic products specifically, but e-waste started to get recycled in the early 2000s, Liu said. The way computers, cellphones, stereos, printers and copiers were being disposed of previously was to simply add them to a landfill without reusing salvageable parts. But as the National Conference of State Legislatures notes, electronics production required a significant amount of resources that could be recovered through recycling. Recovering resources such as metals, plastics and glass through recycling used a fraction of the energy needed to mine new materials. However, the study pointed out that flame retardants and other chemical contaminates have been detected in and near e-waste recycling facilities, in indoor air and dust at formal e-waste recycling facilities in Canada, China, Spain and the U.S. It also noted contamination in soil samples surrounding e-waste recycling sites in China and Vietnam. The safest nontoxic material options for kitchen utensil are wood and stainless steel. The 20th century brought airplanes, radio, television, the internet, and plastic. Lots of plastic. That plastic is now showing up on shorelines, forming islands in oceans, and generating mountains of translucent trash on land. Around 700 species of animals in the sea have been found to interact with plastic daily. Companies across every industry face pressure to reduce the amount of plastic they produce. Seventy-two percent of the world's largest have made voluntary commitments to reduce their plastic waste, according to a Duke University analysis. One industry, in particular, has greatly benefited from advancements in single-use plastic technology: the medical industry. Only in recent years have businesses and academics in the field begun to talk about minimizing their impact on our environment like beverage manufacturers and other consumer goods-producing businesses. Medical Technology Schools analyzed academic studies published in the National Library of Medicine , the American Medical Association , and news reports to shed light on the medical community's use of plastics through history, their environmental problems, and proposed solutions to reduce their impact. And the impact can be significant. A single hospital patient generates nearly 34 pounds of waste a day —as much as a quarter of it is plastic. The COVID-19 pandemic only worsened the problem. The pandemic pushed hospital capacity to the brink and led to a massive increase in personal protective equipment and medical supply usage. Medical-grade masks and other protective equipment like face shields, made mostly of nonrenewable plastics, were in high demand. In 2020, the World Health Organization estimated that the international need for PPE manufacturing would boost 40% to address the public health crisis. Hospitals needed an estimated 89 million masks, 76 million gloves, and 1.6 million goggles every month of the pandemic. To date, nearly 677 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, each requiring their own plastic syringe, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan estimated that the U.S. would produce a year's worth of medical waste in just two months due to the pandemic. The World Economic Forum warned that the COVID-19 crisis threatened to " stall and even reverse progress " to reduce large plastic waste. It's a challenge researchers acknowledge today as they search for solutions. Plastics introduced an era of ultraconvenience to the world. It makes our clothes. It's made bike helmets and airbags possible. And it's a cheap material to produce, meaning it's cheap for consumers too. Almost as importantly, it's durable and incredibly easy to make into complex shapes—a trait that helped plastics invented in the mid-20th century quickly replace more expensive metal and wooden goods. That adoption extended to the medical field, where the single-use nature of plastics represented a move toward more hygienic tools for physicians and hospitals. But it wasn't plastic's sanitary qualities that the industry first latched onto. Like so many other technical advancements, convenience and cost were the initial driving factors. That they were more conducive to creating a sterile environment for patients was a benefit that health care began to tout closer to the end of the 20th century. PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, replaced glass bottles previously used to hold IV solution and replaced rubber tubing used throughout hospital settings. Plastic has also become the go-to material for making syringes and catheters. Plastic products are generally made from chemicals derived from the oil and natural gas refining process. Chemists use those byproducts to create synthetic materials with malleable and durable chemical structures. The low cost of these materials has helped medical device-makers support better health outcomes for communities across the U.S. since the 1900s. No longer was health care priced at rates only the elite could afford—it was accessible to a much larger swath of the public. In the last decade, the U.S., in particular, has emerged as a massive market for medical plastics. The country generally accounts for nearly half of the global market for medical devices. Plastic's durability is not only a benefit but a detriment to the environment, as the material can take many years to deteriorate when it enters landfills or trashes oceans. Estimates vary widely, but scientists ballpark that depending on the kind of plastic and the environment in which it decomposes, it could take dozens to thousands of years to break down entirely. COVID-19, which remains a burden for health care systems, isn't the only force raising the stakes for a health care industry pressured to reduce reliance on plastics or find ways to reuse them. Global annual production of plastic has doubled in the last two decades , according to the Environmental Protection Agency. As the U.S. looks toward the future, its aging population is another factor that could exacerbate the rate at which medical plastics end up in landfills. People require more medical care as they age, and aging baby boomers are expected to place increased demand on the medical device industry. At the same time, governments are under pressure to lower health care costs, which have become unaffordable even for those insured . As recently as 2021, researchers lamented a lack of data on efforts to recycle medical plastics. Around 350 hospitals participate in Practice Greenhealth's Environmental Excellence Awards . Practice Greenhealth is an organization working to help hospitals increase their sustainability. It's one of the few sources of hospital sustainability data, and its roster of participating hospitals represents a small fraction of the more than 6,000 hospitals operating in the U.S. To meet the need to reduce plastic waste generation, some hospitals are moving away from using plastic in certain applications. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center replaced health care workers' disposable plastic isolation gowns with reusable cloth gowns at its hospitals in the last decade, saving money and preventing literal tons of medical waste. It also implemented a process for sterilizing and incinerating the boxes that hold used needles, allowing them to be reassembled and reused in a health care setting. Recycling plastic medical waste is complicated by the potential for contamination and the need to separate contaminated and noncontaminated waste; once separated, they can be broken down with heat or treated with chemicals and reprocessed. However, using chemical methods to break down and dispose of plastics has drawbacks. Over 200 nongovernmental organizations signed a letter in 2023 urging the Biden administration to end federal support for methods like these, arguing they generate toxic pollutants. The Vinyl Council of Australia is working with hospitals to recover used materials made of PVC . The materials are broken down into tiny pieces, washed and heated at high temperatures, and remade into things used outside medical settings. In the U.S. and Europe, there's the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council, a coalition of companies working in the health care device space that includes DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic. In 2021, the HPRC, advised by professionals at Kaiser Permanente and other health systems, rolled out a medical waste recycling pilot project with hopes of scaling it across more hospitals. Story editing by Ashleigh Graf. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller. This story originally appeared on Medical Technology Schools and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio. Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week!
Conor McGregor is one of the most famous athletes all over the world. The Irish fighter has become one of the most recognizable faces in all of sports. He began fighting professionally as a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter in 2008, and he’s been a UFC champion, being the first person to hold the title in two separate weight classes at the same time. By his side through much of his career has been his fiancée, Dee Devlin . Though they are not married, the couple have been inseparable. Find out everything you need to know about her and her relationship with Conor here. How Did Conor Meet Dee? Conor and Dee have been dating since the start of his professional career. They’ve been a couple since 2008. He revealed that he first met her when he spotted her out at a nightclub in Watkinstown, where Dee is from. He asked her to come and talk to him, which she did, and the rest is history, as they say! Conor revealed that he was instantly drawn to Dee in an interview with VIP Magazine. “She seemed like a nice girl, and I like good girls,” he said, per Dublin Live. His now-fiancée has shown that she’s still very charmed by him. “He’s very funny – he always keeps me entertained and makes me laugh,” she told the outlet. Conor & Dee Have Four kids Conor and Dee are very proud parents to three sons, Conor Jr. and Rian, and their third whom they welcomed in 2023, and a daughter Croia . Conor revealed that he and Dee were expecting a fourth child in a June 2023 interview on Live With Kelly and Mark. Besides showing that he was very excited to become a dad for the fourth time, he also gushed about his daughter preparing for “big school,” and said that his eldest son was also following in his footsteps and training to lockdown fighting techniques. Conor Proposed to Dee in 2020 After over a decade of dating, the fighter put a ring on his fiancée’s finger in August 2020. He revealed that he’d popped the question by sharing a selfie with Dee, showing off the massive rock. “What a birthday, my future wife!” he wrote in an Instagram caption. Dee Shares Photos with Conor & Their Family After 15 years together, Dee and Conor seem like they’re absolutely head over heels for one another. Dee often posts photos of herself cozying up to The Notorious, as well as shots with their kids. She regularly shows off the couple’s outfits on red carpets or different other occasions that they share together like vacations . She also showed a photo of their Halloween costumes in 2022, where Conor dressed as a pilot and she dressed as a flight attendant. While she usually keeps her captions short and sweet or just uses emojis, she occasionally gushes about Conor in them. In May 2022, she shared a photo of the two of them on a boat together and wrote about how much she loves him. “You amaze me babe,” she wrote. “Always and forever.” What Has Conor Said About Dee? Like his wife-to-be, Conor occasionally posts photos with his wife and family on his Instagram. He also has gushed about his wife during a few interviews. When giving a press conference in Kiev in October 2019, he pointed out the “stunning Irishwoman” and credited her with his success. “My lady, my queen is right here with me in the flesh,” he said, per Irish Mirror . “She has been everything for me on this journey and she still is.” Other than the press conference shoutout, Conor also gushes about her on social media . He shared a humorous photo of her appearing to apply sunscreen to him in June 2023. “If you want to be looked after in this world, look after a Woman,” he wrote in the caption.Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State stated on Friday that security in the state had improved significantly in 2024, with no major breaches reported. Mr Mutfwang made this remark while speaking to State House correspondents following his visit to President Bola Tinubu in Lagos. “I came to see the President, who has been very concerned about the security situation in Plateau. You will recall that in 2023, around this time, Plateau State was in mourning. “The President has been deeply concerned, and now we’ve been able to celebrate Christmas with relative peace, moving towards the New Year,” Mr Mutfwang said. The governor noted that the security situation in the state had improved significantly this year compared to last, due to the efforts of the security forces. “The security forces are on the ground and doing their best. “We have also invested heavily in technology and mobilised our communities,’’ he said. Though acknowledging that not all challenges had been resolved, with a few incidents still occurring, Mr Mutfwang emphasised that the overall situation was improving. “With the support of Mr. President, I can assure you that we will not take our foot off the pedal,” he said. He further assured the public that his administration would continue to make it harder for criminal activities to thrive within the state’s borders. “Our goal is to reassure our people and instill confidence in Nigerians, especially those who are considering investing in Plateau. “I want to tell them that the climate is right, the environment is conducive, and I believe that 2025 will be an even better year.” NAN
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