A Win For Stuff

I recently turned a family member and a VP at a healthcare technology company on to Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff. Two days later, I found this in my inbox:

Hi Rob,

The “stuff video” made a strong point about toxins in plastic etc. I thought that you would be pleased to know that your support of the Obama team is being felt in the world of food and drug containers. According to our consultants who do testing for the device and pharmaceutics industry, testing requirements for toxins in polymers have been strengthened in a major way. Under the Bush administration, for polymers with a history such as silicone rubber or titanium, we would put the material under the skin of a rabbit for 90 days and look for inflammation and redness. For plastics that had never been used before in the body, there are a comprehensive list of chronic toxicology and carcinogenicity tests conducted with cells or with living subjects. However, there was no required analytical chemistry component in any of these regulations.

However with the Obama administration we are now required to supplement the biology testing with very sensitive chemical analytical methods. There is an FDA mandated process for leaching all potential “extractable” materials out of the plastic (things like unreacted monomer, additives for mold flow) and then studying each of these extractables for toxic effects. The combination of biologic and chemical analytical methods is a much better way to assure that plastics do not carry toxic chemicals into the body.

Just wanted you to know that your very active support of the current administration has had a practical (albeit expensive) effect. We just came out of a meeting discussing our corporate position on this requirement and we are embracing it. It is the right thing to do.

Maybe there is hope,
[name]

Tremendous.