Experts Say Chemicals Debate Linked to Black Plastic Utensils Misses the Point

A debate about whether black-colored plastic used in items including kitchen utensils could contain cancerous chemicals might be missing the point, according to experts.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, a study published in October 2024 in the journal Chemosphere screened 203 consumer products for bromine, commonly used to make flame retardants. Toxic brominated flame retardants (BFRs) were found in 85% of the products, with total concentrations ranging up to 22,800 parts per million (ppm) of chemicals, including the banned substance deca-BDE and its replacements.

Health concerns related to BFRs include carcinogenicity, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, and reproductive and developmental toxicity.

The toxic flame retardants are commonly found in plastics, televisions, and electronics, and “are currently the largest marketed flame retardant group due to their high-performance efficiency and low cost,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In the previous study, BFRs were found in items such as sushi trays, produce trays and kitchen utensils, among other products.

Researchers estimated that those using contaminated black plastic kitchen utensils would be exposed to an average of 34,700 nanograms of decaBDE each day. 

Per the Washington Post, the authors stated that this “would approach” the maximum levels considered safe by the EPA. However, the maximum level is actually 420,000 nanograms per day for a 132-pound (60 kg) adult, not 42,000, according to a study update. Authors have since insisted, “This calculation error does not affect the overall conclusion of the paper.”

Even with the change in numbers, experts claimed the debate missed the point, per the paper, suggesting that there’s not really such a thing as a safe level when it comes to health.

Citing experts, the outlet stated the “so-called safe level” is “based on old science that doesn’t account for how different chemicals can accumulate in the body.”

Reproductive sciences professor Tracey Woodruff, who works at the University of California at San Francisco, said, “The reference dose is not a safe level,” adding, “If you make a mistake, your mistake is forever,” per the paper.

Woodruff commented on the fact that BFRs accumulate in “household dust and bodies” over years, so it’s important to “get the regulation right,” the outlet reported. The paper added that researchers suggested the problem could be that no one really knows what a “safe dose” of BFRs might be.

Woodruff also pointed out that the safe dose might not be the case for more vulnerable people, such as infants or pregnant women, saying, “It’s portrayed as zero risk, but that’s simply not true,” per the paper.

Woodruff tells PEOPLE , Maybe you won’t see the health effects immediately after being exposed since these effects can take some time to develop, but it is like a thousand cuts eventually add up, and you can get sick. These diseases can have many causes so it is hard to dissect the chemical contribution to the disease prevalence in the population but it can be there.”

She added that she uses stainless and cast iron pots and pans in her own kitchen.

“I even have my grandmothers old cast iron pan which I can get to a nonstick level,” she explained. “And I use stainless steel and wood utensils. These work great – I can fry an egg over easy no problem and I don’t expose myself to toxic chemicals in plastic. But do what you can because it takes time to switch away from plastic.”

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Megan Liu — who worked on the Chemosphere study — previously said of the potential health concerns the research had found, “Companies continue to use toxic flame retardants in plastic electronics, and that’s resulting in unexpected and unnecessary toxic exposures.”

“These cancer-causing chemicals shouldn’t be used to begin with, but with recycling, they are entering our environment and our homes in more ways than one. The high levels we found are concerning,” Liu, who is also the science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, added.

“These results clearly demonstrate that flame retardant-containing electronics, such as the outer casings of large TVs, are being recycled into food storage containers and utensils,” Heather Stapleton, environmental chemist and exposure scientist at Duke University, said.

Only black products were studied at the time, so it’s unclear whether other colors of plastics could be exposed. BFRs surged in popularity after polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which were previously used as flame retardants, were banned or scrutinized due to potential health risks.