Styrofoam Cups

Getting late, picking up the back pack, reaching university in a hurry… and suddenly you come to a stop and think to buy yourself a cup of hot coffee or tea to veer off hanging spells of sleep. Holding the steamy cup, you sit in the class room, listening to the lecturer, sipping tea/coffee now and then. Once you have downed it all, you feel utterly fresh and your day has finally started. But let’s go back. What was the cup made of? Is the material in which you drink your life-saving beverage preserving your health in long term? Not sure? Well, here is the truth.

WHAT ARE STYROFOAM CUPS?

Styrofoam Cup
The cups that we see in daily life are called Styrofoam cups, Styrofoam was developed in 1942 by “DOW CHEMICALS”. There is a misconception about the cups that they’re made purely from Styrofoam but this doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Styrofoam is Extruded Polystyrene also known as (XPS) & the material of Styrofoam Cups is made from expanded polystyrene (EPS).

WHY THE CUPS ARE HARMFUL?

Environmental Hazard
Source: Wiki
Carcinogenic
These cups contain styrene; a harmful cancer-causing chemical that can leach into your food and beverages especially if they are hot. Styrene is a neurotoxin that can serve to accumulate in fatty tissues. Furthermore, the human body is prone to suffer from fatigue, less concentration, increased pulmonary function, headache and eye and nose irritation. Workers exposed to Styrene in plastic and rubber industries suffer from a higher rate of risk of developing cancer, especially female workers can have miscarriages. It can lead to impaired hearing, kidney problems, can affect lung growth, lead to ovarian malignancy and breathing problems such as wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma, bronchitis and nausea. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer. With each sip of your tea/coffee/soup, you take in a small number of carcinogens. Its not just bad for our health but our environment too. The chemicals that are used in the manufacturing process are hazardous & toxic to the air as well. Benzene one of the main ingredient that is used in the manufacturing process, is classified as air pollutant by EPA, it is also one of the main carcinogenic agent, and a cause of “Leukemia”. Dioxins are also part of manufacturing and are main reason for immune and hormone problems.

Indeed, the insulated material is so common in the environment for packaging foods that you would not think it to be harmful. It is about ninety-five percent air and very cheap, thus used as a mainstream means of packaging food and serving hot dishes or drinks. Styrofoam is also very harmful to the health of our planet. The most problematic of which is that it is non biodegradable. It takes about 500 years to decompose. With immense amount of its production, it is filling up a huge portion of garbage produced worldwide. Moreover, the burning of Styrene can produce toxic carbon monoxide. The manufacturing of Styrofoam alone creates baneful hydrocarbons that can lead to the production of tropospheric ozone, once combined with nitrogen oxide in the presence of sunlight. Microwaving food in Styrofoam containers should be avoided at all costs.

The sensible thing to do here is to do away with any variable propelling the spread of cancer and harm to health, not only to us but our planets as well. Alternative containers such as paper cups is the best alternative we can take. It is time to put a stop to the manufacturing of these containers as it is already very widespread. All of us should create awareness regarding the health issues in our respective environments so that people boycott Styrofoam. Although according to recent researches, it has been found out that meal worms can survive on polystyrene plastics and thus prove efficient in degrading polystyrene. Furthermore, they excrete biodegradable Styrofoam that can be used for agricultural soil. If on one hand the solutions for emanating this hazardous land pollutant can be initiated, we can also deal with boycotting its production on the other hand by promoting the production of paper products as they are biodegradable and non-toxic to the environment.

So next time you go for a hot meal or a beverage, make sure you make it healthy enough. To be safer it is more than okay to keep safe containers with yourself. Because health is the best wealth out there.

References:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2010. Toxicological Profile for Styrene. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2011. Addendum to the Toxicological Profile for Styrene (Update) http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/styrene_addendum.pdf