PlastiPure, a safe plastics company, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with TOPAS Advanced Polymers (TOPAS-US) to endorse several TOPAS products that are free of harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals that cause estrogenic activity (EA). Chemicals with EA, including BPA
and phthalates, have been strongly linked to adverse health effects such as birth defects, reproductive cancers, and behavioral and learning disorders.
Under the agreement, PlastiPure tested and approved three new TOPAS-US materials (Topas 6013D-61, Topas 8007D-61, and Topas 8007F-04) for use in PlastiPure certified EA-Free™ products. The superior thermal, optical and mechanical properties of these new materials particularly suit them for high performance medical and food packaging applications. Plastics processors can now source these materials directly from TOPAS and its distributors as part of an overall PlastiPure EA-Free™ certification for their products. PlastiPure and TOPAS anticipate the development and approval of additional materials to extend the TOPAS line of PlastiPure-Safe™ resins.
“We are very pleased to partner with an innovative company like TOPAS, who is focused on making verifiably safer plastics,” said PlastiPure CEO Mike Usey. “By purchasing these materials directly from TOPAS and then following PlastiPure’s
conversion processes using their existing machinery, manufactures can produce EA-Free™ products.”
Increasing consumer concern over the safety of plastics has led to the development and introduction of BPA- and phthalate-free plastic products. However, these solutions are flawed because BPA and phthalates are only two of hundreds of estrogenic chemicals used to make plastics. In fact, tests of BPA-free products have indicated that almost all continued to release other chemicals having EA, and several of the chemicals released had as much EA as the polycarbonate products they replaced.
PlastiPure technology can be easily implemented to make most plastic materials and products free of leachable estrogenic chemicals. The partnership between PlastiPure and TOPAS is a key first step to wider availability of EA-Free™ consumer products.
In the past year, PlastiPure has introduced plastic materials and products to the market that are free of estrogenic chemicals. The company recently secured a $1.1 million federal grant to continue developing materials without EA.
“When consumers see the PlastiPure EA-Free™ certification seal on their products, they know the product is as safe as it can be,” Usey said.