Usually, residual monomers / small oligomers (e.g. BPA, styrene, vinyl chloride, ethylene, propylene etc.) are found in the different plastic materials since polymerization reactions are hardly complete. Their amounts in the plastic products can be varied between few ppm to numerous percent depending on the polymer type and mechanized production process.
Yes, it play very toxic role.
1.Plastics are generally added with some coloring chemicals, most of which are toxic.
The color molecule is loosely attached with plastic.
During keeping hot or any corrosive materials in the plastic pot, the color molecule enter in the solution/ materials and enter our body system.
2. The non biodegradable plastics are a headache just after use.
The drainage system of urban areas, the solid disposal system of the country already become almost paralysed for already gathered plastics.
3. Play very dangerous role in marine life, wild life and even on free range domestic animals.
Practically, most of the surface area of the planet will be covered by plastic within a few years if no effective system for their destruction is discovered.
Like the added coloring materials, the loosely attached monomeric unit of plastics may be mixed with liquid in contact with it. It is toxic.
As effect of long term continuous exposure to human can not be studied on ANY animal model, so all certificates for 'non -toxicity' of such chemicals are doubtful.
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I really appreciate the time you took to think about it and also I find it to be very helpful.
The widespread of plastic products all over the world has given evidence of their immense usefulness or versatility plus their relative safety among other advantages.
When simpler compounds (monomers ,dimers …etc.) are left over within a plastic thereby causing harm in the end usage, the blame will lie upon those who produced the plastic and/or who fabricated it.
By way of example, vinyl chloride is a carcinogenic gas. It can be polymerized easily & completely into PVC and thus the harmful effect is over. Assuming that very little of it was still present, then purification by precipitation of this amorphous polymer has to be done. At the end of the day, PVC has been "trusted" in many applications including using it as containers of dairy products & custard…etc.
That a plastic contains pigment or simple compound, which will migrate into a food or drink, will also be the fault of the manufacturer. When a pure plastic is processed, the additives ought to be selected in a proper "wise" manner.
A little story: Some of my colleagues once advised me to use colorless polyethylene cups for tea or coffee because they "thought" that colored cups are hazardous. I brought a blue colored PE cup into my office & placed olive oil inside it & left it covered for 5 years. The blue cup stayed as it was but the oil has oxidized due to light (and not due to PE & the additives).
If the monomers are not bonded or crosslinked they can leach out with time. Most of the monomers are not toxic it depends on their chemistry.
With time crosslinking advances. Monomers leaching out may create a sticky surface.
I had some experience with the oligomers in the case of low pressure polyethylenes (HDPE, MDPE, LLDPE). The chemical nature of these oligomers depends of the catalyst used. With Ziegler-Natta or metallocene catalysts, the termination products are saturated parrafins and as such present few chemical or toxicological hazards. With chromium catalysts, the amount of oligomers is much more important (tens to hundreds of ppm) and their nature is usually olefinic with terminal unsaturations. Those molecules being smaller tend to diffuse much faster outside the material ans also to react much faster e.g. with hydroperoxides and other reactive chemicals. This results in the production of oxidised species which are responsible for organoleptic problems and might have more questionnable toxicological profiles.
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