A doctor has revealed exactly why she threw all her black cooking utensils in the bin.
Dr. Poonam Desai is an emergency medicine and lifestyle medicine physician based in New York City.
The health worker revealed that black plastic cookware contains toxic chemicals that can cause cancer.
“They also increase the risk of endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity,” she said in a video.
Dr. Desai now only uses wooden or stainless steel kitchen utensils.
The alarming new US study put a spotlight on a chemical compound that has been banned in Australia since 2023.
Plastics from electronics are often recycled and made into common household items, such as cookware and children’s toys.
Black colored plastic has been found to contain potentially ‘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, used in electronics, in 85 percent of the 203 black plastic products tested.
“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 retardancy, resulting in potentially high and unnecessary exposure,” the study said.
An estimate of exposure to the restricted substance BDE-209, a form of decaBDE, one of the flame retardants discovered by the study, in kitchenware found that users would have a “median intake of 34,700 ng/day.”
This is said to be greater than the amount we are estimated to be exposed to from dust and food. DecaBDE has been extensively researched and was banned by the Ministry of Health in 2023.
The substance has been linked to cancer, endocrine and thyroid problems, fetal and child development, toxicity to the reproductive and immune systems, and neurological functions such as memory.