Can plastic cups give you cancer?

Answer 1

PVC or vinyl has been a bad actor in the past. Vinyl chloride, the monomer which is polymerized into polyvinylchloride, or vinyl for short, is documented to cause a certain rare type of liver cancer. Plant workers that had to enter polymerization reactors for periodic hand cleaning often eventually fell victim. There was a law suit and the manufacturer paid damages. Since then special precautions have been taken at the plant to reduce exposure. And residual monomer in the resin has been controlled to what are believed to be safe levels. There have been similar issues with a few other polymer types where feed stocks have some danger. But again the user of the molded plastic product is in little danger.

But there has been a more subtle recent concern. Some trace compounds that can be extracted from some polymers by liquid contact appear to resemble natural estrogen. However their impact on estrogen receptor sites appears to be much more dominant and profound than natural estrogen. It is claimed in lab experiments that estrogen can accelerate the growth of cultured tumor cells.

Answer 2

Plastic bottles themselves cannot give you cancer. However, chemicals released by plastic water bottles can cause cancer, but it's easy to prevent. All the info is on this website:

http://www.plasticsmythbuster.org/Main-Menu/Plastics-Rumor-Registry/Bottles-With-Plastic-Recycling-Numbers-Below-5-Release-Cancer-Causing-Chemicals-.aspx

Answer 3

Plastic bottles dont cause cancer. There is a chemical that is released from the plastic (this has not been thoroughly tested or proven) and it enteres your food/water and you ingest. It is called a carcinogen. There are TONS of carcinogens all around. The dye in your soda/food, bbqing with charcol, the air we breath, they all contain carcinogens. Carcinogens can contribute to an increased risk of cancer however there is not a threshold meaning "if you eat bbq 100 times you will get cancer in 5 years" it is not guaranteed. Like smokers for example, cigarettes are a carcinogen but not all smokers get cancer.

Answer 4

how do plastic bottles of water cause cancer