Additives from plastic water and soda bottles are one of the factors driving an epidemic of young men who have lost their drive to excel, according to a doctor-researcher. Leonard Sax says the synthetic estrogens found in these bottles are bringing precocious puberty to girls and severely affecting many boys.
In his 2007 book “Boys Adrift,” Sax describes five major factors contributing to what he calls a growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men. One of these five is environmental estrogens from drinks stored in plastic bottles, including baby bottles. Baby toys and pacifiers have contained the stuff too. What stuff? BPA and phthalates, used to soften and condition the plastic. Plastic bottles with recycling #1, used for bottled water and soda, are a key culprit.
This is not a surprise. There’s been a debate among scientists about how much of these chemicals is harmful. Animal studies pinpointed the amount needed to cause cancer; the industry used that as a benchmark, allowing trace amounts that supposedly aren’t enough to cause cancer.
He poses the question: does taking estrogen affect boys and men? In recent years many Americans have been getting their water out of plastic bottles. And soda has been sold in plastic bottles rather than aluminum cans. As a result, Americans find themselves in a big experiment on this question, does taking estrogen affect boys and men. Aside from whether the plastic additives cause cancer, Sax says he believes they are causing delayed puberty and lost motivation.
The result of this, along with four other factors, is affecting a population of men who haven’t grown up, says Sax. He cites some interesting studies. One looks at men in the age group of 35 to 40. Normally, men this age are married. In fact, only 25 years ago, only 8 percent of American men in this age group had never married. But as of 2006 that 8 percent had nearly tripled. It was up to 22 percent and still rising rapidly. (He cites Eduardo Porter and Michelle O’Donnell, “Facing Middle Age with No Degree and No Wife,” New York Times, Aug. 6, 2006.)
The proportion of men aged 18-35 living at home with parents or relatives has doubled in the last 30 years. Meanwhile 36 percent of babies in the United States in 2004 were born to unmarried women. These statistics cut across all demographic groups.
Congress, through the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is banning phthalates from products sold for use by children under 12 as of August, 2009. This includes baby bottles and pacifiers.
But the Food and Drug Administration is the agency in charge of food and drink containers like water bottles, and it is choosing to believe the 11 industry-funded studies showing small amounts of BPA are safe. (There are 104 independently funded studies showing it is hazardous, according to Catherine Zandonella, MPH, of The Green Guide, an online magazine.)
Therefore, let the buyer beware. Avoid beverages in plastic bottles (#1, 3, or 7 on the bottom, if you want to check). Especially, avoid allowing the full bottles to get warm, a condition in which the chemical is more likely to leach. In addition, avoid drinking soda from such bottles because the acid will leach the chemical out. And avoid warming food in the microwave in plastic containers.
The other four factors in the epidemic of men who don’t grow up named by Sax are:
* Requirements to sit still in kindergarten. Children these days are taught to read in kindergarten, at an age when most boys aren’t ready. So they begin to hate school.
* Video games
* Pills to treat ADHD
* The lack of cultural traditions emphasizing transition to manhood
If this piques your interest, you should read this book. Everyone should read it, I think. It was an eye-opener for me and will be for you too.
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