London, Feb 20: Beware of excessive intake of packaged foods! in a commentary, environmental scientists have cautioned regarding the harmful effects of artificial chemicals employed in food packaging and process.

The artificial chemicals that move into the packaging, storage, and process of foodstuffs may be harmful to human health over a length of time, environmental scientists have warned in a comment within the Journal of medical specialty and Community Health.

This is because most of those substances are not inert and might leach into the foods we eat, they say.

Despite the fact that a number of these chemicals are regulated, people that eat packaged or processed foods are seemingly to be inveterately exposed to low levels of those substances throughout their lives, say the authors.

And far too little is thought regarding their long-term impact, including at crucial stages of human development, like within the womb, that is “surely not even on scientific grounds”, the authors claim.

They point out that lifelong exposure to food contact materials or FCMs – substances employed in packaging, storage, processing, or preparation equipment — “is a cause for concern for many reasons”.

These embody the fact that well-known toxicants, like gas, a cancer inflicting substance, are wrongfully employed in these materials.

Formaldehyde is widely present, albeit at low levels, in plastic bottles used for effervescent drinks and base ware, rumored Science Daily.

Secondly, alternative chemicals well-known to disrupt endocrine production conjointly turn up in FCMs, together with bisphenol A, tributyltin, triclosan, and phthalates.

“Whereas the science for some of those substances is being debated and policy makers struggle to satisfy the needs of stakeholders, customers stay exposed to those chemicals daily, principally unwittingly,” the authors denote.

And, thirdly, the overall variety of well-known chemical substances used designedly in FCMs exceeds 4,000.

“Since most foods are prepackaged, and the entire population is likely to be exposed, it’s of utmost importance that gaps in knowledge are reliably and rapidly crammed,” they urge.