A doctor has revealed exactly why he threw all his black kitchen utensils in the bin.
Dr. Poonam Desai is an emergency physician and lifestyle medicine specialist based in New York City.
The health professional revealed that black plastic kitchen utensils contain toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.
“They also increase the risk of hormonal disruption, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity,” he said in a video.
Dr. Desai now only uses wooden or stainless steel utensils.
The alarming new US study highlighted a chemical compound banned in Australia from 2023.
Plastics from electronics are often recycled and incorporated into common household items, such as kitchen utensils and children’s toys.
Black plastic has been found to potentially contain “alarming” levels of toxic flame retardants from recycling processes.
Dr. Poonam Desai is an emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine physician based in New York City.
The study found traces of flame retardants, which are used in electronics, in 85 percent of the 203 black plastic products analyzed.
“Despite the lack of transparency and restrictions, plastics from electronics are often recycled and can be incorporated into household items that do not require flame retardants, resulting in potentially high and unnecessary exposure,” the study states.
It found an estimate of exposure to the restricted compound BDE-209, a form of decaBDE, one of the flame retardants the study detected, in cookware, indicating that users would have a “mean intake of 34,700 ng/day.”
This is said to exceed the estimated amount we are exposed to due to dust and diet. DecaBDE has been studied extensively and was banned in 2023 by the Department of Health.
The compound was linked to cancer, endocrine and thyroid problems, fetal and infant development, immune and reproductive system toxicity, and neurological functions such as memory.
