Plastic, since its inception in the mid 19th century has become one of the widest used materials. The properties; typically insulating and flame retardant, are a perfect suit for electronic applications. These properties can even be tailored, meeting the requirements of the application. A truly fantastic material. Or is it?
Plastics, or if you’re a scientist, polymers, have enabled the progress of science and technology in various different fields, most notably in electronics. Originally acting as the casing and insulators of electronic goods, from early Bakelite to modern polystyrene blends, the new trend is to introduce conducting polymers. These enable the field of electronics to continue to grow with technologies such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays – giving a brilliant degree of clarity, potentially surpassing the number of pixels the human eye can detect. Wow! Technology is surpassing human thresholds that have taken over a million years of evolution! But it doesn’t stop there!
Plastics are everywhere! From Formula 1 cars to polyurethane car seats, the polyethylene bags at the supermarket to the Kevlar vest you may wear that covers your polyester shirts, even the bisphenol A water bottle your child drinks from.... “hang on..... bisphenol A... didn’t I read something in the news about that a while ago?” Yes. And there is more.
To explain, bisphenol A (BPA) is the polymer that many typically encounter as the material that makes receipts and common plastic bottles and generally has great properties for this purpose. Unfortunately, it’s toxic. So much so that in September of this year (2010) Canada declared it as a toxic product. And recent research by Zalko et. al. based in Toulouse and Braun et. al. based in Boston will provide justification for Canada’s decision and fuel for other nations to follow suit. The research conducted suggests BPA is not just toxic but absorbed through the skin. Regular contact with till receipts could expose an individual to an increased risk of the toxicity associated with BPA, namely mimicking oestrogen in the body. A significant issue for pregnant women.
BPA has been known to be toxic since the 1930’s. This, however, was overlooked when introducing the polymer as a new material for mass production. The quest for scientific and technological advancement may come with consequences as illustrated by BPA, and who knows what other materials in the future, maybe this is the price to pay for progress? I think this quote sums it up best...
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal”
A. Einstein
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