For the students that don`t have a meal plan like me, after a day of class, projects, exams and papers, the last thing they want to do is cook. So instead of looking for all the ingredients, chop them, mix them, and cook them; a easier option is to go to the freezer, that your frozen pizza put it in the microwave, set it for 5 minutes and dinner is serve!

So when I try to do the same at home, my mom always tells me to put the pizza on other non-plastic container. So I decided to investigate what is this decision based on. When food is wrapped on plastic or plced in a plastic container and microwaved, subtances used in manufacturing the plastic may leak into the food. Some kind of food like fatty food such as meats and cheeses causes a chemical called diethylhexyl adipate to leach out of the plastic. These chemical is a light-colored, oily liquid with an aromatic odor. It is used in making platics. It is also used as a solvent in aircraft lubricants. The health effect are on the short-term, the chemical is not known to cause any health problems when people are exposed to it at levels above 0.4 ppm (parts per million). On the long-term, it has the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above 0.4 ppm like reduced body weight and bone mass; damage to liver and testes; cancer. The damage caused by plastic containers has been studied in animals. IN these studies, hgigh doses of toxic chemicals from plastics have lead to repdroductive illnesses, cancer and olther health issues. It is believed, however, that the leaking of the chemicals in plastics in very small amounts is not a health hazard in humans.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is aware of this problem and mandates that manufactures of platics food containers test their products to be sure that this dander does not exist. The testing process takes into account the tumber of times a plastic food container is likely to be used, what types of foods will be heated in it, and how long it is likely to be placed in to the microwave at specific temperatures.

First, the test is experimental, so the independent variable is manipulated by the people running these test. It could be possible that the study is suffering the Texas sharp shooter problem because of all the variables that are being tested it can be that something is going on and also can be due to chance.So now that the alternative hypothesis is correct or is a false positive, is still enoguh to change your behavoir toward microwaving food in plastic containers? leave it up to you.

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/is-it-safe-to-microwave-plastic-food-containers.html#b

http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/pdfs/factsheets/soc/adipate.pdf