Are Toxic Chemicals Lurking in Your Plastic Kitchen Utensils?

Key Takeaways

• Everyday items made of black plastic, including kitchen utensils, takeout food containers, and toys, can contain harmful flame-retardant chemicals, finds a new analysis.
• Chemicals in these products have been linked to cancer and hormone-related problems.
• People can reduce health risks by avoiding goods made of black plastic.

New research suggests that some commonly used black plastic items could be hazardous to your health.

Findings presented this week in the journal Chemosphere show that a variety of household products made with recycled black plastic - including food service ware, kitchen utensils, and toys - contain high levels of flame-retardant chemicals linked to cancer.

Testing by scientists in the United States and the Netherlands revealed that the greatest amounts of these toxic chemicals are in takeout sushi trays, spatulas, and beaded necklaces that kids may wear while playing dress-up.

The researchers believe that flame-retardant chemicals released from certain electronics components like television and computer casings during the recycling process may be the source of these contaminants.

"These cancer-causing chemicals shouldn't be used to begin with, but with recycling, they are winding up in household products where we don't expect to see them," says study coauthor Megan Liu , the science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future , an organization that advocates for environmental health and research.

Chemicals That Raise Cancer Risk

Manufacturers add brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) to electric and electronic products, specifically black-colored plastics, with the goal of keeping consumers safe from fires.

Previous research, however, has shown that high exposure to such chemicals may raise the risk of cancer and interfere with hormones produced by the endocrine system.

A study published in JAMA Network Open in April 2024 indicated that people with the highest levels of flame-retardant chemicals in their blood had about a 300 percent greater risk of dying from cancer compared with people with the lowest levels.

Exposure Likely to Come From Recycled Plastics

Because black plastics from electronics are often recycled and incorporated in household items that do not require flame retardancy, scientists from Toxic-Free Future and collaborators at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam speculated that many people are being exposed to high levels of toxins and may not realize it.

Liu and her colleagues screened more than 200 black plastic household products that would potentially give consumers close contact with these chemicals, including kitchen utensils, toys, and hair accessories.

"We were particularly concerned about exposures from food and ingestion, but also in toys because kids can play with them for long periods of time and flame retardants can leach out of them and get into children's saliva," says Liu.

Of the analyzed products, 85 percent contained toxic flame-retardant chemicals, including deca-BDE, which was banned in 2021 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The authors noted that the European Union allows deca-BDE in products up to a limit of 10 ppm (parts per million), but levels measured in the items screened were 5 to 1,200 times greater than that.

A study published in 2016 also found high concentrations of flame retardants in Mardi Gras beads, made from a plastic consistent with computer casings, monitor casings, and TV frames.

"The evidence from our 2016 study paints a picture of plastic parts like computer housing being separated from electronic waste, crushed and melted, possibly mixed with other recycled plastic streams, sold to factories, and molded again into dark colored plastic items like Mardi Gras style beads and decorations," says Gillian Miller, PhD , senior scientist at the Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental organization in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "And in some cases the recycled plastics are used in food packaging, like the sushi tray highlighted in this new paper from Toxic-Free Future."

Concerns Grow Over Hazardous Chemicals in Plastics

The new research adds to a mounting evidence suggesting that everyday plastic items may contain chemicals that are harmful to our health, says Jason Somarelli, PhD , director of research at the Duke Cancer Institute's Comparative Oncology Group in Durham, North Carolina.

He points to a paper he coauthored this year finding more than 150 known carcinogens (cancer-causing additives) in plastic products.

"We were able to link additives to changes in cellular processes, such as DNA damage," says Dr. Somarelli, who was not involved in this latest study. "The problem that remains is how many different additives coexist in a single product. We may know what each additive does in isolation, but it's really poorly understood what the mixtures of chemical soups are doing."

Advocates Call for Consumer Awareness and Action

Dr. Miller, who was not involved in this research, advises people to support legislation restricting hazardous chemicals in consumer products and support organizations advocating for health and environment protective policies.

"Persistent flame retardants end up in many different places when the computers, phones, TVs, or headphones are obsolete. They go into the air when burned; into landfills, waterways, wildlife and humans; and into new plastic products," she says. "We need electronics and other products designed to be long-lasting, but not to be trashed when the next version comes out, and not to use these chemical hazards."

Retailers and brands are increasingly adopting safer chemicals policies to eliminate hazardous chemicals in key products, according to Toxic-Free Future, and the organization spotlights some of those efforts in its Retailer Report Card .

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy . We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.

Sources

1. Liu M et al. From E-Waste To Living Space: Flame Retardants Contaminating Household Items Add To Concern About Plastic Recycling. Chemosphere . October 2024.
2. Endocrine Disruptors. National Institute of Environmental Sciences . July 22, 2024.
3. Shen C et al. Association Between Brominated Flame Retardants and Risk of Endocrine-Related Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Toxicology Letters . April 2024.
4. Liu B et al. Exposure to Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Risk of All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Network Open . April 1, 2024.
5. Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE); Regulation of Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic Chemicals Under TSCA Section 6(h). Federal Register . January 6, 2021.
6. First-Ever Study Finds Cancer-Causing Chemicals in Black Plastic Food-Contact Items Sold in the U.S. Toxic-Free Future . October 1, 2024.
7. Miller G et al. Toys, Décor, and More: Evidence of Hazardous Electronic Waste Recycled into New Consumer Products. Journal of Environmental Protection . February 2016.
8. Vincoff S et al. The Known and Unknown: Investigating the Carcinogenic Potential of Plastic Additives. Ecotoxicology and Public Health . June 3, 2024.

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Don Rauf

Author

Don Rauf has been a freelance health writer for over 12 years and his writing has been featured in HealthDay, CBS News, WebMD, U.S. News & World Report, Mental Floss, United Press International (UPI), Health , and MedicineNet. He was previously a reporter for DailyRx.com where he covered stories related to cardiology, diabetes, lung cancer, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, menopause, and allergies. He has interviewed doctors and pharmaceutical representatives in the U.S. and abroad.

He is a prolific writer and has written more than 50 books, including Lost America: Vanished Civilizations , Abandoned Towns , and Roadside Attractions . Rauf lives in Seattle, Washington.

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