Are the lids of Starbucks hot drinks easy to cause cancer? Gain knowledge and be responsible for your own health

For many literary and artistic pretenders, in cold weather, walk into sing Buck and order a cup of hot coffee and milk tea. Selfie, both convenient and fashionable, is absolutely the only way to occupy the top of moments!

However, some media reported that the lids of these hot drinks are made of polystyrene, which releases styrene monomer when heated, which may cause a decline in immunity and increase the risk of cancer. Hold it! I just want to know: can I still happily buy hot drinks?

What? You can't understand the chemical names in front of you? Don't worry, once you first came to popularize science: what are styrene monomers and polystyrene resin (polystyrene)?

Polystyrene resin (resin is the general term for high molecular polymers) is synthesized by free radical Polycondensation of styrene monomer, the protagonist of carcinogens-despite its esoteric name, it is actually a commonly used plastic. The commonly used polystyrene molding products are made of polystyrene resin as the main raw material and processed by the corresponding production process.

It can be said that our life is inseparable from plastic drops.

Then we would like to say that polystyrene has the advantages of light weight, high strength and low cost. at present, it is widely used in food packaging, such as cup lid, plastic water cup and so on.

In plastic packaging products, there will be marks with numbers to indicate different plastics. If you see a mark with the number "6" on the lid, the lid is made of polystyrene. At present, many countries and regions, including the United States, the European Union, Japan and China, allow the use of polystyrene as food packaging materials, and there are corresponding management measures.

SO, does styrene monomer really cause cancer?

When talking about the carcinogenicity of styrene monomer, many people will cite the cancer grade evaluation of styrene by the International Center for Research on Cancer (IARC), calling it a class 2B carcinogen.

IRAC classifies carcinogens into five categories, of which: category 1 is a known human carcinogen, category 2A is likely to cause human cancer, category 2B is likely to cause human cancer, category 3 is uncertain whether it can cause human cancer, and category 4 is unlikely to cause human cancer.

Among them, styrene monomer is classified as class 2B, that is, it may cause cancer in human beings, but the current experimental and statistical data can not clearly draw the conclusion that styrene causes cancer. Seeing this, you couldn't help saying, wouldn't it be much easier to invent a food carcinogenic scanner (I'm not talking about taking pictures before meals, of course)?

So the question is, are there any health hazards in hot drinks?

Some people may worry that the hot drink cup lid will release styrene monomer when it is heated. Indeed, there will be some styrene monomer residue in the finished product, which may be decomposed under high temperature and other conditions. But we must first make clear the concept that dose determines toxicity, that is to say, whether it will be harmful to health, it depends on how much it is.

The migration of styrene monomer mainly depends on the temperature of contact, the content of oil in food and the time of contact. The provisional maximum allowable intake of styrene set by JEFCA is 0.04mg / kg. For people weighing 60 kg, the maximum allowable daily intake is 2400 micrograms. To achieve this harmful amount, it is equivalent to drinking about 107 hot drinks a day, which is very difficult for ordinary people to achieve.

According to the current use and research evidence of countries around the world, as long as polystyrene food packaging materials are used properly, there will be no food safety problems.

In fact, the largest source of human exposure to styrene monomer is air. In order to reduce its harm, the control of air pollution is the key.

Conclusion: people worry too much about cancer caused by hot drinks. If it is a No. 6 cup lid, try not to drink hot drinks with a cup lid to reduce the release of chemicals. If you buy plastic products, Zeng Jun suggests:

1. When buying plastic packaging materials, read the instructions carefully and follow the instructions to use them.

2. Do not heat it in the microwave unless it is stated on the package that you can add it in the microwave.

3. If damage or deformation is found, it is best not to use it. In addition, styrene is also found naturally in some foods, such as strawberries, beef and chili peppers. A certain amount of styrene is also produced in the production of wine and cheese. Smoking will also have styrene, smoking a cigarette usually has 20-48 micrograms of styrene. Although the harm probability of this carcinogenicity cannot be compared so simply, the amount of styrene monomer that may be dissolved from a cup lid is lower than that consumed when drinking a bottle of beer and smoking a cigarette, so you can rest assured to drink a hot drink.

Source: China Food Daily