This is a topic we have spent a good deal of time covering over the past several years.  Due to the level of potential harm, especially among those groups who regularly consume fast food, I have devoted several radio programs to covering the scientific study findings linking these packaging chemicals to a variety of serious, life-altering health conditions.

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At the anecdotal level, I have watched as a number of people I know start a downhill slide after many years of regularly consuming fast food (that includes a host of questionable additives in the food, as well the industrial chemicals that seep into fast food from the packaging). Many of us have witnessed contractors, painters, installers, roofers, plumbers, truck drivers, and other professionals that frequently eat fast food as a convenience, who start out young, strapping and filled with energy in their twenties, only to begin a rapid downhill spiral with their health once they round the corner heading towards forty.  These professionals oftentimes face a double whammy–they are not only met with challenges from regular exposure to the chemicals of their trade, but oftentimes without realizing it, adding insult to injury by consuming fast food chemical concoctions for lunch on a daily basis.

There have been a number of scientific studies examining the toxic chemicals in U.S. food packaging over the past several years.  This latest study uncovered fluorinated chemicals in one-third of the fast food packaging they tested. Unfortunately, these industrial chemicals do not remain locked safely away inside the wrappings…

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“Previous studies have shown that PFASs can migrate from food packaging into the food you eat.”

-Laurel Schaider, a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute and one of the authors of the paper

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And that is no small matter…

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“The most studied of these substances (PFOSs and PFOAs) has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, elevated cholesterol, decreased fertility, thyroid problems and changes in hormone functioning, as well as adverse developmental effects and decreased immune response in children.”

Also see:

Extensive use of fluorinated chemicals in fast food wrappers: Chemicals can leach into food

Previous studies have linked the chemicals to kidney and testicular cancers, thyroid disease, low birth weight and immunotoxicity in children, among other health issues.

Americans may be consuming fast food wrapped in paper treated with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) — the same chemicals used in stain-resistant products, firefighting materials and nonstick cookware, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.