Calif. Judge Blocks Labeling Styrene as a Carcinogen
A Sacramento Superior Court judge prevented the state from labeling styrene as a “carcinogen” when used in styrene food packaging, according to the California Progress Report.
The judge ruled in favor of styrene manufactures, who sued to keep state environmental regulators from listing the material as a cancer-causing agent under provisions of Propostion 65, an initiative that regulates and informs consumers about toxic products, according to Greener Package.
According the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers (AFPR), 69 million pounds of expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging were recycled in 2008. Photo: Amanda Wills, Earth911.com
The Styrene Research and Information Center (SIRC) is addressing concerns about the material after some media reports from the American Chemistry Society’s 2009 annual meeting referred to styrene as a “known human carcinogen.”
According to Jack Snyder, executive director of the SIRC, “[The] styrene monomer is the building-block chemical from which polystyrene is made. Styrene oligomers are created normally in small quantities during polystyrene manufacturing. In general, they are present in very small amounts in polystyrene plastic. They are not commercial products and their cancer-causing potential has not been evaluated.”
Styrene is labeled as plastic #6, and the most common form of plastic #6 is EPS, commercially known as Styrofoam, the trademarked product name from the Dow Chemical Company. Though Styrofoam is often difficult to recycle, other plastic #6 products, such as cups, CD and DVD cases, are more widely accepted.
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Joseph Walker
posted on September 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Just to set the record straight, the Styrene Information and Research Center’s (SIRC’s) work to address media reports that erroneously characterized styrene as a “known” human carcinogen had nothing to do with the matter in California. Rather, SIRC was attempting to clarify media reports stemming from an inaccurate American Chemical Society news release about the decomposition of plastic ocean debris. For the record, no authoritative body anywhere in the world considers styrene to be a ‘known” human carcinogen, and the latest styrene science is pointing away from such concern. Also for the record, styrene is not plastic; rather it is the building-block chemical from which polystyrene plastic and other styrene-based compounds are made. Polystyrene is plastic #6. While expanded polystyrene (EPS) cups often are called “Styrofoam” cups, Styrofoam is in fact a Dow Chemical trademark for insulation made from polystyrene and has nothing whatsoever to do with foodservice. I write as communications advisor to SIRC, Arlington, Va., http://www.styrene.org, where accurate information concerning the important chemical styrene may be found.
jan
posted on September 15th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
“Better living through chemistry’ eh?