Scientists have identified more than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals that can be found in food packaging and other food-related materials, two-thirds of which were not previously known to be in contact with food.

科學家們已經(jīng)確定了3000多種可在食品包裝和其他食品相關(guān)材料中發(fā)現(xiàn)的潛在有害化學物質(zhì)，其中三分之二是以前未發(fā)現(xiàn)與食品接觸的化學品。

An international group of scientists analyzed more than 1,200 scientific studies where chemicals had been measured in food packaging, processing equipment, tableware and reusable food containers.

一個國際科學家小組分析了1200多項科學研究，這些研究對食品包裝、加工設備、餐具和可重復使用的食品容器中的化學物質(zhì)進行了檢測。

A report released on Thursday by the Food Packaging Forum, a Switzerland-based non-profit, noted little is known about many of the 3,240 chemicals examined in these studies or their effects on people.

瑞士非營利組織“食品包裝論壇”5月19日發(fā)布的一份報告指出，人們對這些研究中檢測的3240種化學物質(zhì)中的許多物質(zhì)及其對人類的影響知之甚少。

Manufacturers are either intentionally or unintentionally adding these chemicals to packaging and other equipment, said Pete Myers, a report co-author and founder and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences, a non-profit advocacy group. Either way, many of those chemicals are ending up in the human body, he said.

該報告合著者、非營利性倡導組織環(huán)境健康科學創(chuàng)始人兼首  席科學家皮特·邁爾斯表示，制造商有意或無意地將這些化學品添加到包裝和其他設備中。不管怎樣，其中許多化學物質(zhì)最終都會進入人體。

“If we don’t know what it is, we don’t know its toxicity,” Myers said. “The mix of chemicals is just too complicated to allow us to regulate them safely.”

邁爾斯說：“如果我們不知道它是什么，就不了解其毒性�；瘜W物質(zhì)的混合物太復雜了，我們無法對其進行安全監(jiān)管�！�

The new analysis, published in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, comes amid growing concerns about exposure to potentially toxic chemicals in food and water.

這項新分析發(fā)表在《食品科學與營養(yǎng)學評論》雜志上，眼下人們越來越關(guān)注食品和水中潛在的有毒化學品。

The Food Packaging Forum has created a searchable database with the chemicals found in the packaging and equipment, known as food contact materials. While many of the chemicals on the list are known hazards such as phthalates and PFAS, others have not been adequately studied, the group said, and their health effects are unclear.

食品包裝論壇用包裝和設備中發(fā)現(xiàn)的化學物質(zhì)(即接觸食品的材料)創(chuàng)建了一個可搜索的數(shù)據(jù)庫。該組織表示，雖然清單上的許多化學物質(zhì)都是已知的有害物質(zhì)，如鄰苯二甲酸鹽和全氟烷基和多氟烷基化合物(PFAS)，但其他化學物質(zhì)尚未得到充分研究，尚不清楚它們對健康的影響。

Researchers were shocked to find chemicals in food contact materials that consumers could have no knowledge of. Just one-third of the chemicals studied appeared in a previously compiled database of more than 12,000 chemicals associated with the manufacturing of food contact materials.

研究人員震驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)，在食品接觸材料中存在消費者可能一無所知的化學品。所研究的化學品中僅有三分之一出現(xiàn)在先前匯編的與食品接觸材料制造有關(guān)的12000多種化學品的數(shù)據(jù)庫中。

Previous studies have found potentially dangerous PFAS “forever chemicals” in food packaging. Those chemicals have been linked to a list of health problems.

此前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，食品包裝中含有存在潛在危險性的PFAS“永久性化學品”。這些化學物質(zhì)與一系列健康問題有關(guān)。

Nearly two-thirds of the studies analyzed in the new report looked at chemicals in plastic. Packaging manufacturers often add chemicals without knowing the long-term ramifications, said Jessica Heiges, a UC Berkeley doctoral candidate who studies disposable food items such as plasticware and packaging and was not involved in the report.

新報告中分析的近三分之二的研究關(guān)注塑料中的化學物質(zhì)。加州大學伯克利分校博士研究生杰西卡·海格斯表示，包裝生產(chǎn)商經(jīng)常在不了解長期后果的情況下添加化學品。海洛斯從事塑料制品包裝等一次性食品包裝的研究，她沒有參與該報告。

The chemicals “are terrifying because we don’t know what their impacts are”, Heiges said. “What’s most alarming is this cocktail of chemicals, how they’re interacting with each other. Some of them are persisting in the environment and in our bodies as we’re consuming them.”

海格斯稱，這些化學物質(zhì)“很可怕，因為我們不知道它們的影響是什么。最令人擔憂的是這些化學物質(zhì)的混合物，它們是如何相互作用的。當我們攝入它們時，其中一些會持續(xù)存在于環(huán)境和我們的身體中�！�

It’s likely many of those unknown chemicals are harmful, said Alastair Iles, an associate professor in UC Berkeley’s environmental science, policy and management department, also not involved with the study.

加州大學伯克利分校環(huán)境科學政策和管理系副教授阿拉斯泰爾·艾爾斯表示，許多這些未知化學物質(zhì)很可能是有害的，他也沒有參與這項研究。

“The report only underlines our gross ignorance when it comes to the chemicals that people are being exposed to every day,” he said. “If we didn’t know that there were so many chemicals in packages, what does that say about our knowledge about chemical risks?”

他說：“這份報告只是強調(diào)了我們對每天接觸的化學物質(zhì)有多么無知。如果我們連包裝中有這么多化學物質(zhì)都不知道，那說明我們對化學品風險的又了解多少呢?”

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