On Tue, 31 May 2005 10:29, c.ten.broeke wrote:

>I have started growing vegetables in my backgarden and also an allotment. It's
>true that even in healthfood stores foods can be wrapped in plastics.
>
>Here's another link:
>http://www.nottoopretty.org/
>
>Does anyone have more suggestions as how to avoid them?
>
>Christy

The new info in the Guardian report demonstrated for the first time that phthalates can cause
defects in unborn male children (examples are given in the article).  The <nottoopretty> site has
other useful info which does not take it as far as this new report.

Those of us over 55 years of age were all born into in a phthalate-free world, so an imaginary
journey back in time to our early childhood will show us how we avoided phthalates all day and
every day without any difficulty.

The article does not say what sort of contact with the plastic leaches the phthalates into food.  It's
my guess (and I'm not a chemist, so it's only a guess) is that fats and oils would be more likely to
interact actively with the plastics than, say, fruit and vegetables.  Does anyone know if this is so?

Keith