DEHP - Threatening Chemical That Shocked The WORLD!

Recently, the DEHP cases that boom out from Taiwan creates a major concern over food healthy issues around the whole Asia region. In Taiwan, the selling of products made using an emulsifier made by the Yu Shen Chemical Company has already been stopped. Yu Shen Chemical Company used DEHP as substitute for palm oil has been proved from a study made by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration. Energy drinks, bottled tea and juices, fruit jam, and fruit jelly with ingredients made by Yu Shen Chemical Company which covering a large range of food were pulled out from store shelves in Taiwan. DEHP not only expose to environment through food but also in any PVC material that we use in daily life. Toys, PVC pipe and even medical equipments such as IV tubings also contain DEHP!

Bubble tea that may contain DEHP due to food additives produced by Yu Shen Chemical Company!

Who would suspect that the everyday plastics in your house or the medical products used at your hospital would be made in such a way as to leach a toxic chemical into your body? What exactly is DEHP? What is it use for and how can it harm people?

                 Firstly, DEHP is an abbreviation for Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, is an organic compound with the formula C₆H₄(C₈H₁₇COO)₂. DEHP is a phthalate which is an ester of phthalic acid and are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity). They are used primarily to soften polyvinyl chloride. DEHP is colourless, viscous and almost no odour. It is soluble in oil but not water. They are widely used in plastic products in the food and construction industries, plus they are used extensively in beauty products, pesticides, wood finishes, insect repellents, solvents and lubricants. They exist almost everywhere in our life.

                How can DEHP comes in contact with human and environments? DEHP is highly lipophilic fat(fat soluble). When used in PVC plastic, DEHP is loosely chemically bounded to the plastic and readily leaches into blood or other lipid-containing solutions in contact with the plastic. This leaching of DEHP to humans via the solution with which it is in contact increases risk of certain adverse health outcomes. Animal studies showed that exposure to DEHP can damage the livers, kidneys, lungs and reproductive system particularly the developing testes of prenatal and neonatal males.

                The major impact of DEHP is to the male reproductive system. Phthalates are one of the groups of "gender-bending" chemicals causing males of all species to become more female. The endocrine systems of wildlife are disrupted by these chemicals, causing testicular cancer, genital deformations, low sperm counts and infertility in a number of species, including polar bears, deer, whales and otters, just to name a few. This is a real example that occurred in Taiwan. A pregnant woman that drank tainted-bubble tea everyday has been told that her baby boy would have difficulties in reproduction due to the abnormal development of testes.

               The most shocking news is that DEHP has the highest exposure in hospital! One of DEHP's primary uses is in the medical industry—manufacturers add it to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to make plastic equipment more flexible. DEHP in PVC extends the shelf life of red blood cells. In fact,  medical devices can contain different percent of DEHP by weight and IV tubing can contain up to 80 percent!



IV tubing can be a source of contact with DEHP.



                    One question that may arise is “Can this chemical actually leach from the IV tubing into your baby?” Yes, it can and it does. Small level of DEHP is exposed to everyone in everyday life, but your baby can be exposed to HIGH levels via certain medical procedures. We3 know that DEHP is not bound to the vinyl. It readily leaches out of these medical devices (the tubing or bag) into the solutions that come into content with the plastic, where it then goes directly into you or your child.

                    The degree of this leaching depends on several factors which are the temperature, the lipid content of the solution, agitation of the solution, and the duration of its contact with the plastic (i.e., storage time). Of course, the more medical procedures your child requires, the higher the exposure to this chemical. So, babies who are seriously ill and hospitalized have the greatest risk of exposure, as well as being the most vulnerable to its effects.

                   We can’t avoid to come in contact with DEHP but we can decrease the exposure to it. One of the ways is use reusable plastic bottle. Always read, read, and READ the labels. Besides DEHP, look for the following:

• DBP (di-n-butyl phthalate)
• DEP (diethyl phthalate)
• BzBP (benzylbutyl phthlate)
• DMP (dimethyl phthalate)

Also, be wary of anything listing a "fragrance," which often contains hundreds to thousands of compounds, and phthalates are often in the mix.



Smoking Your Health Away

Had you ever taste smoke before? Liked it? Imagine open burning for instance, obviously nobody liked the experience of getting your face, hair, or your whole body covered with stinking smoke smell, neither will you lick and get a good tasting of the puff of smoke passing by, correct? It’s not yummy, just plain disgusting and ‘yucky’.

Okay forget about the open-burning-smoke, what about cigarettes or tobacco kind of smoke? Let’s relate this smoke with that earlier smoke. Both are just the same, stinking smoke, correct? So I take it that your answer will be something like: “No, I won’t touch smoke forever and ever in my whole living life”. If it is so, then good for you. But still we see that there are a lot of smokers around us, inhaling and exhaling smoke like nobody’s business. Hey wait, weren’t that supposed to be stinking smoke? Then how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in one word, is addiction.

Smoking is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Almost everybody knows that smoking can cause bad breath, yellow teeth, smelly clothes, cancer, emphysema (breakdown of lung tissues), heart diseases, cancers, and even lead to death. Smokers know these facts too. Yet they are so addicted to cigarettes because they had become addicted to nicotine, a chemical substance in tobacco, which is the primary material in cigarettes.

Let’s take a look into nicotine. Nicotine is an alkaloid, groups of naturally occurring chemical compounds which mostly contain basic nitrogen atoms. It has the chemical formula of C₁₀H₁₄N₂. These are all basic knowledge. What we are really interested is the properties nicotine possesses. Nicotine is a chemical that gives you that tingly or pleasant feeling, but that feeling only lasts for a little while. You will feel heavenly for a while, about a few seconds, and then reality kicks in. Nicotine is also very addictive, meaning that your body will become so used to it that you will need it to feel normal. It’s hard to quit smoking once you are addicted to nicotine.

So why is it that smoking kills? We know that tobacco contains nicotine, and nicotine is an addictive chemical substance. But what we don’t know is that nicotine is poisonous, it kills in high enough doses. There are no physical needs and reasons for us to start smoking, unlike the body’s need for food, water, sleep, and exercise. In fact, the body is smart and will activate its defense mechanism when it is being poisoned. That is why first-time smokers will always feel pain or burning in the throat and lungs, and some even throw up the first few times they try tobacco.

Nicotine is a slow poison that kills over time. The effects won’t be noticed at first, but it will slowly affect the smoker’s health and wealth over a long period. Health problems such as cardiac diseases, stroke, and cancers are often fatal and will usually affect a smoker only if they persistently smoke for a long-term. Wealth issue is also concerned as tobacco or cigarettes are not cheap. They will burn a hole in your wallet if you are a heavy smoker.

So ladies and gentlemen, if you are a smoker yourself, my utmost humble advice to you is to stop smoking as soon as possible. It is never too late to stop smoking. If you are not a smoker, please do not ever ever try smoking. Remember to avoid second-handed smoke too! (Second-handed smoke is more hazardous than first-hands; you die faster if you inhaled second-handed smoke more.)

Put this in mind: Say NO to smoking! Unless you really want to live ten or twenty years shorter.

Soapy Facts

     Have you ever wondered where does soap comes from and what does it made of? Well, soap is a chemical substance that used as a cleansing agent to remove grease and dirt. Or a more scientific definition, soap is sodium or potassium salts of long chain fatty acids. Soap is categorized as a cosmetics product because cosmetic is defined as a substance in contact with any external part of our body such as skin, mouth, face and etc.

     The use of soap is not a modern phenomenon as it was recorded that the soap was made by the Babylonians around 2800 B.C. Ancient Egyptians used ashes of plants which contain sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate to make soaps by boiling it with lime (calcium oxide) to produce caustic potash, which is also known as potassium hydroxide. This caustic potash was then boiled with animal fats such as tallow to produce soaps. Examples of soaps that are commonly used are sodium palmitate, sodium oleate and sodium stearate.

     Nowadays, soaps can be manufactured easily by using the reaction between salts and animal fats or vegetable oils which is known as saponification. Now you must be asking yourself what is saponification right? Saponification is actually a process of alkaline hydrolysis of esters using alkali solution. Using this process, animal fats or vegetable oils are boiled with concentrated alkalis which it will then break down the ester molecules into soap and glycerol.

     Now, let us take a look at how does the soap works in the cleansing action of a cloth with dirt or grease. As we know that soap consists of a negatively charged ‘ head’ which is soluble in water and a long fatty acids ‘tail’ which is soluble in oil, thus, this action is depends on the structures and the chemical bonding of the soap. When the soap is mixed with water, the ionic ‘head’ will be dissolved in water whereas the fatty acids ‘tail’ will be dissolved in the grease or dirt. The water is then being slightly agitated to lift up the grease from the cloth’s surface. Since grease is less dense than water, the grease will be lifted up. The grease can also be emulsified into smaller droplets by shaking the water to break the grease. The smaller droplets will not rejoined as they all have the same charge and thus they repel each other and can be easily removed by rinsing the cloth with water.

     Although in this modern era, most people prefer to use detergents instead of soaps, but soaps are actually biodegradable which means that it does not cause pollutions to the environment. The explanation is that soaps are made of animal fats and vegetable oils whereas detergents are mostly made of petrochemicals which contain branched hydrocarbon chains that make it a non-biodegradable substance.

     So, next time when you want to buy soaps, you know which one is best for you and the environment.

Do you want a hair dye or hair die???

In this 21^st century, you will definitely found that 8 out of 10 people dye their hair. People dye their hair to cover their gray hair and some youngsters dye their hair to make themselves feel good. When I’m still in my high school, I always used to whispered in my heart that when I finish my Form 5, the first thing I would do is to dye my hair. I pretty sure that everyone have the same thinking as mine.

* Hair Dying!!! :( *

We love changes! Don’t get me wrong, is change in a good way, not the bad way! BUT, do remember to care about your health when you are making any changes of yourself! We can’t deny that the hair dye products are one of the greatest retail sales in the market. There are plenty of brands, such as Revlon, L`oreal, RenKen and many more!

Once people are into hair dye, they will dye their hair regularly. People re-dye their hair when their hair started to turn gray and their hair roots started to grow. However, do you know what chemicals are inside hair dye? Or do you know you will get into ‘troubles’ by dying your hair?

Scientists did experiments on hair dye and found that the chemicals contain lot of harmful effect on humans.  The main chemicals of hair dye are peroxide and ammonia.  Even those natural hair dyes also contains peroxide and ammonia. We know that peroxide and ammonia are also use as household clearance. We were asked to wear gloves, do not breath in directly and do not in contact with our skin when using them. HOWEVER, we are now using it and next to our brain! Do you think that is okay?

* CHEMICALS~! *

People who dye their hair to get darken hair colour contains coal tar. There are 3 types of hair dye, permanent hair dye, semi-permanent hair dye and temporary hair dye. To achieve permanent hair dye, oxidation dye is used. 1,4-diaminobenzene and 2,5-diaminotoliene are oxidant in hair dye. 1,4-diaminobenzene and 2,5-diaminotoliene are aromatic para compounds.  To make hair dye, the environments are alkaline due to presence of ammonia. The combination of hydrogen peroxide and primary intermediate causes the natural hair to lighten. Ammonia is used to open the hair shaft which allowed the bonding with the hair. Difference colours use different chemicals. For example, 1,3-diaminobenzene are blue couplers, 3-aminophenol red couplers, the combination of 2,5-diaminotoluene with the coupler 3-aminophenol gives a magenta-brown dye, while the combination of 2,5-diaminotoluene with the coupler 1-naphthol gives a purple dye.

p-phenylenediamine form and reformed dye on chemical reaction. For example, 2-nitro-p-phenylenediamine which is dyes and are added to achieve the intended shades. Lead acetate in hair dye is used to cover the gray hair.

Semi-permanent hair dyes have low levels of peroxide and ammonia. Therefore, it is safer for damaged and fragile hair. It has smaller molecules than temporary dyes which allow them to partially penetrate the hair shaft. However, it still contains the harmful p-phenylenediamine and other ingredients.

Temporary hair dyes are available in many forms. You can get a temporary hair colour by using specific shampoo, gel, spray and foams. As a result of temporary hair colour, you will get a brighter colour if compared to permanent and semi-permanent hair dye. People will use temporary hair dye when they attend events and party.

In a nut shell, dye hair will increase the risk of getting cancers because those ingredients used in hair dyes can penetrate into your skin. Not only the person who dyed their hair will get cancer, the hair dresser also at a risk of developing bladder and others cancer. Research also found that it a pregnant mother dye their hair shortly, they will have a cancer risk ten times higher. Phenylenediamine is the ingredient in hair dye that causes life threatening. It is extremely irritating and it can cause blind to a person if it is applied to the eyes. People who used dark hair dye will cause lymphoma. Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of immune system. Hair dye can cause allergic to the skin.  

* And now, we are on the right track! :) *

Do you know what the consequences of dying hair are? Do you really care about it? Had you think of a way to solve it? Well, we know that dyeing our hair with darker colours is safer than light colours. Highlight your hair instead of dyeing the whole hair because you didn’t apply much of the ingredients on your hair. If you want to dye the whole hair, you can get natural dyes or vegetable based dye from the markets. This will ensure you for not getting exposure to harmful chemicals.

Think twice before you dye your hair! Because it kills!

Chemistry within you. Yes YOU there!

Ever wondered why is that sudden surge of energy come from when you are in a risk? Or the sudden existence of that nice feeling of pleasure and relaxing and blissful when you are happy? All of these relates with chemistry within our body. Maybe you will ask, is it not that anything related with humans and other living things are under the field of biology? That is true indeed. But having say so, I have to stress that within biology there is still chemistry going around. The digestion system for example, required a lot of chemicals just to make sure the system work. These chemicals can exist in different forms; hormones, vitamins or enzymes. HCl (hydrochloric acid) is required to activate pepsin, an enzyme to digest proteins in the stomach. Liver produces bile and stores in the gall bladder to be secreted into the duodenum when needed. Bile is alkaline in nature and is used to neutralize the acidic food bolus from the stomach, other than to digest lipids. From these simple examples, are you aware that your body includes a variety of chemicals now?

As the saying goes: “All of life is chemistry”. Not only do we exist, we learn, think, love, sleep, and feel well or bad, down or up, healthy or sick, due to the chemical levels in our body. If everything is well and balanced, our body is in a state of homeostasis. If they are not, then we have trouble, more or less.

Let’s start with imagining when you are all worn up and tired, and suddenly out of nowhere a lion pops out and chases you for lunch, or just a dog will do if you think that a lion is too much for you. You run for your life of course. But where are the extra energy, rage, and power came from? Ask your adrenal glands about that. Adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol, two main hormones or chemicals which is responsible for the boost of energy just now. When our body is under stress and risk, the gland secretes these hormones into our blood, or also known as adrenaline rush. Adrenaline increases our physical performance for a short period of time, while cortisol acts as a stress manager. The boost of performance comes with a side effect though, that is your body will feel more tired and worn out after the adrenaline rush. Just rest well after you had an adrenaline rush and you should be fine. 

What about the pleasure and happiness you feel? Dopamine is to be questioned. Dopamine, the pleasure chemical, produces the feeling of bliss and pleasure, and it also acts as a natural pain-killer. More dopamine in our blood means more pleasure and less pain. Another chemical which produces the similar feeling of dopamine produces is called phenylethylamine. It is found in chocolates and it gives you the blissful feeling. That is why when you are feeling down and sad, go have some chocolate bars. It helps.

Well let’s go into a more complex feeling, love. Ever notice people keep saying that: “love is complicated”? They are right for real. Love is a chemical process that occurs in the body when the body produces a mixture of chemicals including dopamine, noradrenaline, phenylethyamine and many more. Because of so, you may experience flushed skin, sweaty palms, and heavy breathing. If you go further, a few other hormones will be involved, mainly oxytocin and testosterone. Oxytocin, for females, and testosterone, for males, are sexual hormones which gives us the feeling of emotional attachment. As you become more and more aroused, more and more oxytocin or testosterone will be produced, depending on your gender. So next time when you feel “chemistry” for another person, you know what is going within you. 

Well, your body and mine is a giant "laboratory", involving hundreds and thousands and millions of "reactions" everyday. You know that's so true now.