VIRAL SACH: Myth over ‘cancerous nature of plastic tea glasses’ busted

New Delhi:  Are you afraid of regularly drinking water or tea from plastic container because you think it could cause cancer? The message is viral amongst the population of our country which claims that ‘drinking water from plastic glasses and heating food in plastic containers cause cancer’.  The question arises, how true is the message? This article would clear all your doubts. The social media is flooded with stories of plastic utensils and its cancer causing effects. In an expose, ABP News spoke to eminent doctors and researchers from the related field and discussed the effects of plastic on human body at length. Before we share with you what specialists have to say about effects of plastic, let’s acquaint ourselves with various myths that are floating in regards to use of plastic on the social media.

• Don’t drink tea in plastic cups
• Don’t consume any hot fluid in a plastic vessel
• Plastic utensil must not be used to heat food in microwave

We spoke to Dr. Shyam Aggarwal, a cancer specialist at Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital, to get clarity on the matter. According to Dr. Aggarwal, “There hasn’t been any scientific research on the impact of use of plastic utensils on human body”. He added that “the effects of using plastic glasses for purposes like having tea at work place or for consuming water wouldn’t have any serious impacts. Dr Shyam added that some of the plastic chemicals do contain certain carcinogenic elements, and it wouldn’t harm us if we avoid using plastic in excess in certain cases. He also said that women working in plastic factories are more prone to breast and uterus cancer, but that is because of using it in superfluity. He said “the duration of contact of tea and the plastic cup is very short and therefore, it doesn’t really leave any serious impacts on our health”.