• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families

A national effort to protect families from toxic chemicals.

  • Get Involved
  • Our Work
    • News
    • Public Policy
    • Mind the Store
    • Successes
  • Get the Facts
  • About
  • Donate

Tony Iallonardo / July 29, 2014

Styrene officially linked to cancer

Four styrene laden products to ditch

Planning a summer barbecue this weekend or stocking up for Labor Day? Well there’s a new development around the health effects of styrene, that’s been hotly contested for years. Just this week, the National Research Council (NRC) signed off on the National Toxicology Program’s  decision to list styrene as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” in its latest report on carcinogens.

“Have a Nice Day! styrofoam food container” by BrokenSphere – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The styrene industry has fought the designation as a “reasonably anticipated human carcinogen” and good government science for years. As a result styrene and styrofoam products are still quite common in the marketplace; that could change now.

What products have styrene?

Styrene is used to make styrofoam and other plastics. Styrene is all over the place. It lines your refrigerator, it’s in building insulation, in your carpet, it’s in latex and rubber and other products. So okay, maybe you can’t afford to ditch the refrigerator and carpet today. What can you do? Start by avoiding:

  1. Foam cups for holding coffee and hot tea.
  2. Foam plates and bowls that could hold hot foods.
  3. Takeout containers made from foam.
  4. The number 6 on plastic products. They don’t look like foam but do have styrene.

Here’s some advice from Dr. Weil’s well known website:

Styrene isn’t known to leach out of hard plastics, but some evidence suggests that it can leach out of foam food containers and cups when food or drinks are hot – not when they’re cold. Based on what we now know, you’re probably safe using styrene foam cups for cold drinks, but I wouldn’t use them for hot coffee or tea, and I would avoid using plastic containers for hot foods.

The doctor may be referring to a study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology that explores how hot foods interact with styrene (a 2009 media report cites it here). Or he may have been also referring to this 201o CDC report (scroll to section 3 on health effects). What to do? Our recent blog on this subject urged people to opt for paper products, or non-styrene plastics that are washable and reusable.

More resources.

Check out our Hazardous 100+ list, to see where styrene falls and other chemicals to avoid. Check out our recent blog ‘Styrene and Styrofoam 101” about the dangers of styrene in your food and it’s many environmental and health impacts.

Don’t miss out and join our mailing list!

Share3K
Tweet
3K Shares

Filed Under: Health Science, Mind the Store Tagged With: action, bill, cancer, carcinogens, chemicals, environmental, environmental impacts of styrene, EPA, exposure, families, health, health effects of styrofoam, kitchen table campaigns, National Research Council, National Toxicology Program, new, phthalates, policy, products, retailers, safer, saferchemicals, state, store, stryofoam, styrene, toxic

Primary Sidebar

person stripping paint

Tell Biden’s EPA: Ban this deadly chemical from the workplace

Take Action

Subscribe to Posts

Get our latest posts delivered to your inbox.

Get the Facts

These chemicals are linked to serious environmental and health problems. Check out our fact sheets, which draw from the leading peer-reviewed science.

  • Bisphenol A (BPA) & Bisphenol S (BPS)
  • Formaldehyde
  • Methylene chloride
  • Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic Chemicals (PBTs)
  • PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)
  • Phthalates
  • Toxic flame retardants
Other Chemicals »

Footer

Contact Us

200 Massachusetts Ave NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20001
Email

Search

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

© 2021 Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families — All rights reserved.

  • About Us
  • Privacy policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Feed