BPA

Aajonus reported that FDA policy requires any area of a metal food container that comes into contact with food to have a layer of plastic containing BPA, specifically to prevent leaching from the metal. He quoted a correspondent's milk lady summarizing this as FDA policy: "Apparently its now an FDA policy that with food containers made from metal, that any areas that come into contact with food must have a layer of plastic containing BPA to prevent leaching from the metal." Aajonus found this deeply ironic, substituting one toxin for another while encoding the substitution into law. The stated rationale for BPA's inclusion was corrosion prevention. A Ball Company representative confirmed this directly to a correspondent who investigated the matter, telling her that the BPA must be in the lids according to FDA rules.

The most detailed and specific material Aajonus produced on BPA concerns the white interior lids used in Ball and Kerr canning jars, which many of his followers used to store raw milk and other Primal Diet foods. When a correspondent finally reached a representative at the Ball Company and asked directly about the white-interior rubber-rimmed lids and the plastic storage caps, the representative confirmed that the white interior lid does contain BPA. She specified it was a small amount, and she stated that it would take a 150-pound person consuming between 2,400 and 4,300 jars with BPA in them to reach the maximum safe daily limit as defined by the FDA. She further clarified that the white interior is made from a modified vinyl, not enamel, and that the modified vinyl does not contain PVC but definitively contains BPA.

Regarding the Ball plastic storage caps, the representative confirmed they are made from polypropylene, a number 5 plastic, and contain no BPA and no PVC. She also stated that the Ball Company was at that time researching a BPA-free lid.

Aajonus developed and recommended a simple hands-on test to determine whether a jar lid had been plastic-coated. He instructed people to take a sharp paring knife and scrape it across the white enameled interior surface of the lid. If scraping produced a thin transparent or translucent material, the lid had been plastic-coated. If nothing curled or peeled away, it had not.

Applying this test himself, Aajonus found a meaningful difference between Kerr and Ball lids. When he scraped the goldish underside of Kerr lids, a clear undercoat easily curled like plastic. When he scraped the white undercoat of Ball lids, there was no curled material. When he pressed and cut hard into the Ball white undercoat, the coating chipped but did not curl or fragment. Based on this, Aajonus concluded that the Ball white undercoat, if it was plastic, was a variety that did not dissolve in contact with food.

He acknowledged that he was not in the United States at the time of writing this analysis and could not verify whether those characteristics remained true more than two years after his last purchase and testing of Ball lids.

Aajonus's position was that the physical character of the Ball lid coating was the critical variable determining whether BPA would leach into food. Because the plastic coating on Ball lids was enamel-like in its hardness and did not dissolve when scraped, he concluded it did not leach into food under typical storage conditions. He contrasted this with Kerr lids, where the plastic coating dissolved relatively quickly and the lids rusted quickly, which he interpreted as evidence that the BPA in the Kerr plastic was being absorbed into the food.

His reasoning was explicit: "The only way BPA would leach into food is if the undercoat were soft enough to dissolve in food. That may be true of the Kerr brand but not the Ball." The main foods he stored in jars with these lids were vegetable juices and milk, neither of which he considered caustic enough to dissolve the Ball coating.

He also tested the effect of acidic fruits. He noted that some acidic fruits, such as pineapple, could theoretically dissolve the coating, but when he tested this under a microscope, he could not find any etching of the Ball lid coating unless pineapple without cream directly touched the lid's undercoat for several weeks. He added that cream mixed with the fruit would prevent contact prolonged enough to cause that etching.

His quantitative estimate was that the coating of at least 2,300 lids would have to completely dissolve into food to cause a severe reaction from BPA, and he estimated that at the rate food actually contacts the coating, that would take approximately 500 years. His conclusion was that the trace amount of BPA that might be released over many months from a single Ball lid would not be enough to accumulate and harm people following his Primal Diet. He added one explicit caution: once the white coating has chipped, that lid should not be used again and should be recycled with cans.

Aajonus was told by a representative of the company that licensed manufacturing and sales of these lids that the Ball Company no longer manufactured or sold lids and that the same company now produced both Ball and Kerr lids, with both lids being sealed with plastic coatings. This conflicted with his own physical testing, which showed a clear difference between the two brands. He attributed the discrepancy to the representative not knowing what she was talking about. His practical guidance was that people should not rely on company representatives or internet searches alone but should scrape both lids themselves and verify the result directly.

A correspondent proposed Tattler brand lids as a BPA-free alternative. Aajonus acknowledged this option in the conversation but did not endorse it. The problem with Tattler lids, as reported in the correspondence he included, is that they contain a small amount of formaldehyde, which the company claimed would not leach out unless heated above 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Aajonus's position, implied by his inclusion of this detail, was that this was not a satisfactory alternative, stating "Either way, not good as far as I am concerned."

Ball plastic storage caps made from polypropylene, a number 5 plastic, were mentioned as a better storage option because they contain neither BPA nor PVC.

Aajonus situated BPA within a larger class of plastic-derived compounds that act as endocrine disruptors by mimicking hormones. He described these compounds as acting like fats in the body, being used in the same metabolic pathways as fats that would normally be used to synthesize hormones, but producing the opposite hormonal output. When the body is supposed to make testosterone, these plastic-derived compounds cause estrogen to be made instead. When the body is supposed to make estrogen, testosterone is made instead. This reversal he described as the reason men and women in industrialized cultures eating food exposed to plastics are becoming increasingly indistinguishable hormonally and physically, in the same way frogs and other test animals became indistinguishable and eventually extinct from the same exposures.

He identified the experiments performed on rabbits, frogs, and other animals as demonstrating this effect systematically. In those experiments, males became females and females became males, eventually resulting in sterility and the inability to reproduce.

Aajonus traced the origin of BPA-laced plastic coatings in cans to a specific historical response to industrial poisoning. Beginning around 1959, manufacturers began exploring how to coat the inside of cans with plastic. By 1961 they were coating cans with various types of plastic. This came after it became evident that metal cans were causing diseases. He described how canned tuna, tomato sauces, and other acidic canned foods were pulling metals out of uncoated cans and causing massive contamination. The plastic coatings were intended to stop that metal leaching.

The result was that diseases associated with metal poisoning such as tonsillitis and the epidemic of spinal cord damage understood as polio went down after plasticizing of cans became widespread in the early 1960s. But the replacement of metal toxicity with plastic-derived hormonal disruption, Aajonus argued, created a different set of diseases while concealing the industrial origin of both sets of problems. He stated that by 1954, a trade-secret sealant coating had been invented to stop metal leaching, and that what came to be known as plastic was the result. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, the King and Queen of England were reportedly aware that the metal-related diseases were going to be linked to their industry, and they orchestrated the transition to plastic-coated cans as a quiet remedy that was not disclosed to the public.

In one workshop passage, Aajonus described BPA in specific chemical terms, calling it "benzene" in the context of what plastic containers gas into food. He stated that food and plastic interaction causes the release of a product called BPA, which is benzene. He cited a test, described as coming out the previous year, showing that 82 to 86 percent of laboratory animals subjected to this compound developed brain tumors. He then noted that the FDA's response was to announce they would outlaw it in five years rather than immediately, which he attributed to the economic interests of companies needing time to change over their operations.

Aajonus was explicit that freezing or heating anything in plastic releases BPA and other toxins. He recommended using Pyrex glass for making ice cubes instead of plastic molds, specifically because freezing in plastic causes BPA to release into the food or liquid. He referenced the Mayo Clinic as having put this information on their website, telling people not to heat or freeze anything in plastic for the same reason. His instruction was to avoid any plastic mold for frozen foods including popsicles, instead using a glass container on its side with wooden sticks to form a triangular popsicle shape.

He also stated that all BPA-free plastic products are still a problem because any plastic is problematic, and when frozen or heated it will still cause harm regardless of its BPA designation.

Aajonus connected BPA exposure specifically to drinking from plastic bottles. His position was that water is a solvent and leaches toxins from plastic, and that people can taste the plastic because it is present in the water. He reported that he could taste plastic in plastic-bottled water. He recommended that people not drink much water and never drink it from plastic bottles. He noted that Gerolsteiner had stopped exporting water to the United States in glass while continuing to sell it in glass to other countries, and he stated that the plastic BPAs and other toxins in plastic-bottled water outweigh the health value of the water itself.

He stated that in manufacturing plastic bottles, the molds used to form the bottles contain solvents and powders to prevent the plastic from sticking to the machinery. These lubricants and powders end up inside the bottle, so consumers are getting plastic compounds, petroleum lubricants from the machinery, and powdered residue along with whatever beverage was bottled.

Aajonus described an instance where a food coloring developed by the University of Washington was used on farmed salmon to make the flesh appear healthy and rich-colored, because the flesh of farm-raised salmon looks diseased to consumers. A report he reviewed concluded that when this food coloring passes through the human body, it cannot be absorbed as food, causes toxicity, and is a form of plastic that contains BPA and other toxic substances capable of causing damage in the body.

Aajonus's position was that no packaged food is safe, because virtually all packaging involves plastic at some stage and introduces plastic compounds into the food. He stated that even cartons are now plasticized, and that the EPA, USDA, and HHS were not enforcing meaningful restrictions on this practice. He described the regulatory response as telling industry to "be careful" without requiring any actual changes, and he attributed this to financial interests and kickbacks.