ArticlePLoS biology2021
Tackling the toxics in plastics packaging.
Article in PLoS biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Paper and Cardboard Packaging: From Cellulosic Substrates to Functional and Hybrid Architectures.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Hidden danger in our food packaging: The health risks of plastic monomers.Journal of public health research · 2025Article
- Focusing plastic solutions up the waste hierarchy: Pathways for a more circular economy.iScience · 2025Review
- A Review on Replacing Food Packaging Plastics with Nature-Inspired Bio-Based Materials.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Effect-directed analysis of genotoxicants in food packaging based on HPTLC fractionation, bioassays, and toxicity prediction with machine learning.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2025Article
- Breakthroughs and Opportunities of Biopolymer Coatings: A Bibliometric Analysis on Their Future Prospects for the Sustainable Food Packaging Industry.TheScientificWorldJournal · 2025Review
- Evaluation of phthalate migration potential in vacuum-packed.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Science evolves but outdated testing and static risk management in the US delay protection to human health.Frontiers in toxicology · 2024Article
- The Mechanisms of Plastic Food-Packaging Monomers' Migration into Food Matrix and the Implications on Human Health.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Endocrine disruptors in plastics alter β-cell physiology and increase the risk of diabetes mellitus.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2023Review
- NLRP3 inflammasome as a sensor of micro- and nanoplastics immunotoxicity.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Novel strategy in biohydrogen energy production from COVID - 19 plastic waste: A critical review.International journal of hydrogen energy · 2022Article
- Sustainability and Polyesters: Beyond Metals and Monomers to Function and Fate.Accounts of chemical research · 2022Article
- A review of multilayer and composite films and coatings for active biodegradable packaging.NPJ science of food · 2022Review
- Confronting plastic pollution to protect environmental and public health.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Food packaging and endocrine disruptors.Jornal de pediatriaReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The widespread use of plastic packaging for storing, transporting, and conveniently preparing or serving foodstuffs is significantly contributing to the global plastic pollution crisis. This has led to many efforts directed toward amending plastic packaging's end of life, such as recycling, or alternative material approaches, like increasingly using paper for food packaging. But these approaches often neglect the critical issue of chemical migration: When contacting foodstuffs, chemicals that are present in packaging transfer into food and thus unwittingly become part of the human diet. Hazardous chemicals, such as endocrine disrupters, carcinogens, or substances that bioaccumulate, are collectively referred to as "chemicals of concern." They can transfer from plastic packaging into food, together with other unknown or toxicologically uncharacterized chemicals. This chemical transfer is scientifically undisputed and makes plastic packaging a known, and avoidable, source of human exposure to synthetic, hazardous, and untested chemicals. Here, I discuss this issue and highlight aspects in need of improvement, namely the way that chemicals present in food packaging are assessed for toxicity. Further, I provide an outlook on how chemical contamination from food packaging could be addressed in the future. Robust innovations must attempt systemic change and tackle the issue of plastic pollution and chemical migration in a way that integrates all existing knowledge.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.