Cold and cloudy; more snow on the way.
A recent article about the declining sex drive (aka libido) in teens and adults in Japan got me thinking. While the article focused on the results of the study and how the country is up in arms because their extremely low birth rate is causing age imbalance and could spell economic disaster, they didn't offer much in the way of causes. They briefly mentioned people being over worked but that does not account for 1/3, yes one third, of teenage boys saying they have absolutely no interest in sex (not even same sex.) Say what? Doesn't that raise some red flags for anyone? Like, what's in the drinking water?
The US has a declining teen birth rate, which is a good thing. Its cause though is admittedly a mystery. In fact, the experts and researchers were surprised and really can not fully explain the dramatic results. They are mostly attributing it to the recession but I don't know how that affects teens. In fact, I would think it would rise, it's cheap entertainment on a Friday night when money is tight. It might be convenient to attribute the decline to the recession and all the abstinent programs (why didn't they work 8 years ago?) but what if that is all a coincidence? What if it is more biological than that?
I could not find any stats specifically on a declining sex drive in the US. Trying to google declining sex, libido and US didn't exactly get me what I was looking for. But I did find some recent research on the affects of plastics and human sex drive, the first of its kind. Researchers found a direct correlation between urine levels of BPA and sexual drive in Chinese men. And yes, when BPA goes up, guess what goes down?
And there are countless studies of plastics (gender benders), specifically the estrogen mimickers, and the affect on feminizing male fish. And there are plenty of lab experiments too on animals to support the deleterious effects of BPA. But not so much research on humans because...we can't do experiments on humans. (sort of like climate change, you can only present the data)
So now it's time to connect the dots... I know I'm going out on a limb here, a big limb too, but it's my gut reaction. What if the not-explained-very-well decline in the Japanese libido and the (ditto) U.S. teen birth rate decline are the effects of the "all around us" gender benders in our environment, food and water? What if the plastic revolution is finally catching up with us? After all, Japan has a long reputation of plastic use, sometimes called a wrap happy culture - many products and foods come wrapped multiple times in...plastic.Not good plastic either, think vinyl. Japan also has had a long standing tradition of bentos; the small divided, usually plastic, food containers. While most of the bentos on the market are up to the stricter BPA standards that Japan now has, I question the decades of cheap plastic use prior to the relatively recent interested in the effects of plastic, plus microwaving the plastic etc. that may (remember I'm admittedly out on a limb here) be responsible for the current generation of not-interested-in-sex Japanese. In addition, Japan switched using BPA cash register receipt paper back in 2006, it seems to have been replaced with BP-S, which may be just as bad.
It is also interesting to note, that birth rate seems to be related to how "developed" a country is, but a close look at the chart has some interesting tweaks. I think it is safe to assume that "development" also goes with levels of pollutions and the environmental toxic exposures that have increased over the last century due to "development". This is ditto for world breast cancer rates too. Yes birth rate may be related to economics, education, culture, religion etc.but part of the equation just may be exposure to gender benders via our "modern" convenient lifestyle.
As soon as I saw the article about the lower teen sex drive in the Japanese, I immediately thought gender benders. The evidence is too overwhelming. I really do believe we are now seeing the effects of run away environmental toxic exposure. The cart was let out well ahead of the horse years ago (thank you lobbying powerhouse ACC, and our let's wait and see attitude) and I believe we are beginning to pay the price. When one third of young men are not interested in sex, and actually "despised" the thought, something is very very amiss in our society.
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
BPA in Cash Regsister Receipts or Not
3 H's - Hot, Hazy and Humid.
BPA, bisphenol - A, is back in the headlines, this time about its presence on thermal paper cash register receipts and its ability to rub off onto your skin. (and yes, then be absorbed)
EWG broke the news report and research, and if you google the subject, a plethora of articles will appear including the ACC's paid Google advertising trying to protect their plastic turf. No need in repeating what has already been said. I would like to take the discussion to the next level.
I've been considering an alternative to BPA thermal paper knowing the cause for concern. What little efforts I had made came to roadblocks since BPA Free paper is not well publicized. So it wasn't until the EWG article appeared that I was able to find a source for BPA-Free receipt paper. Appleton Paper Company turns out to be the world's largest supplier of thermal paper and made the switch in 2006 to ditch BPA, supposedly "out of concern for their workers." I suppose it didn't have anything to do with Japan's Paper Association and their phase out of BPA which began in 1998 and ended in 2003. Japan, the world leader in banning or phasing out BPA, may not have official laws, but Associations and corporations take it upon themselves before government intervention. (Just like Japan voluntarily changing their food cans to non-BPA linings.)
Whatever the true motivation was for Appleton to go BPA-Free, they did, and we are better for it, probably.
So they managed to take BPA out of the paper formula. But I don't see any one talking about what they replaced it with. (Just like no one talked about what SIGG used to replace their BPA lining) So after a call to Appleton, I received my answer from a lovely customer service person with a cute Wisconsin accent. The replacement chemical is diphenyl sulfone.
Next question - is it safe? and the answer is... who knows? Diphenyl sulfone is probably safer than BPA but there is so little information out there, that there are no guarantees. It is a polymer (nice word for plastic). It has been listed (though not widely used) as a pesticide. (so it kills things) One article did say it is non-mutanigenic. (oh thank goodness) So after lots of research, the conclusion I have come to is diphenyl sulfone is one of the 80,000 chemicals listed by the EPA that they have not tested. Oops, sorry, I misspoke. The EPA has tested 200 of the 80,000 chemicals they have in their data base. And a lot of other people have not tested it either.
What I also find interesting is that this paper cash register BPA story broke in August. Back on July 15th, the EPA, under their "Design for the Environment" program held a conference titled"Meeting Materials for BPA Alternatives in Thermal Paper Partnership" assessing alternatives for BPA. Now if the EPA is bothering to hold a conference on the subject, I can only ascertain that the inside scoop is that this is a serious issue.
So now what? If you are a retailer, you might consider switching to Appleton papers. Forget going to Staples, they source from all sorts of companies and you may never know which ones.
As a customer, you can say no thank you to your receipts, or touch quickly without wet hands. Do not store them touching other items that you may handle. The BPA is in powdery form and comes off easily.
And do not put receipts into the recycling bin. Recycling BPA receipts is probably why BPA is showing up in recycled paper and also in our water. Instead, throw them out (where they can be incinerated and go into the air.)
Replacing bad stuff is good. As a consumer, try to always ask yourself, "What did they replace it with?" I think we need to be asking more of those questions.
BPA, bisphenol - A, is back in the headlines, this time about its presence on thermal paper cash register receipts and its ability to rub off onto your skin. (and yes, then be absorbed)
EWG broke the news report and research, and if you google the subject, a plethora of articles will appear including the ACC's paid Google advertising trying to protect their plastic turf. No need in repeating what has already been said. I would like to take the discussion to the next level.
I've been considering an alternative to BPA thermal paper knowing the cause for concern. What little efforts I had made came to roadblocks since BPA Free paper is not well publicized. So it wasn't until the EWG article appeared that I was able to find a source for BPA-Free receipt paper. Appleton Paper Company turns out to be the world's largest supplier of thermal paper and made the switch in 2006 to ditch BPA, supposedly "out of concern for their workers." I suppose it didn't have anything to do with Japan's Paper Association and their phase out of BPA which began in 1998 and ended in 2003. Japan, the world leader in banning or phasing out BPA, may not have official laws, but Associations and corporations take it upon themselves before government intervention. (Just like Japan voluntarily changing their food cans to non-BPA linings.)
Whatever the true motivation was for Appleton to go BPA-Free, they did, and we are better for it, probably.
So they managed to take BPA out of the paper formula. But I don't see any one talking about what they replaced it with. (Just like no one talked about what SIGG used to replace their BPA lining) So after a call to Appleton, I received my answer from a lovely customer service person with a cute Wisconsin accent. The replacement chemical is diphenyl sulfone.
Next question - is it safe? and the answer is... who knows? Diphenyl sulfone is probably safer than BPA but there is so little information out there, that there are no guarantees. It is a polymer (nice word for plastic). It has been listed (though not widely used) as a pesticide. (so it kills things) One article did say it is non-mutanigenic. (oh thank goodness) So after lots of research, the conclusion I have come to is diphenyl sulfone is one of the 80,000 chemicals listed by the EPA that they have not tested. Oops, sorry, I misspoke. The EPA has tested 200 of the 80,000 chemicals they have in their data base. And a lot of other people have not tested it either.
What I also find interesting is that this paper cash register BPA story broke in August. Back on July 15th, the EPA, under their "Design for the Environment" program held a conference titled"Meeting Materials for BPA Alternatives in Thermal Paper Partnership" assessing alternatives for BPA. Now if the EPA is bothering to hold a conference on the subject, I can only ascertain that the inside scoop is that this is a serious issue.
So now what? If you are a retailer, you might consider switching to Appleton papers. Forget going to Staples, they source from all sorts of companies and you may never know which ones.
As a customer, you can say no thank you to your receipts, or touch quickly without wet hands. Do not store them touching other items that you may handle. The BPA is in powdery form and comes off easily.
And do not put receipts into the recycling bin. Recycling BPA receipts is probably why BPA is showing up in recycled paper and also in our water. Instead, throw them out (where they can be incinerated and go into the air.)
Replacing bad stuff is good. As a consumer, try to always ask yourself, "What did they replace it with?" I think we need to be asking more of those questions.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)