Microplastics

Plastic is formed by taking a vegetable oil, subjecting it to hydrogenation, and simultaneously or subsequently applying intense heat, often above 150 to 200 degrees. The process oxidizes and locks the molecular chains of the fat into a rigid or semi-rigid configuration that cannot be utilized by the human body as a nutrient. Aajonus described the molecular structure of hydrogenated vegetable oil as "identical to plastic," not similar to it. He said explicitly that hydrogenated vegetable oils "all have the same molecular structure of plastic because it is plastic. It's just a soft liquid plastic."

The problem with both liquid and solid forms is the same in his framework. Once those molecules enter the body, the body cannot dissolve or process them through normal metabolic pathways. The body may attempt to incorporate them into tissues, or it may attempt to isolate them, but it cannot break them down with the efficiency it applies to natural fats. Over four to five years inside the body, hydrogenated oil molecules harden further because the normal molecular exchange that keeps biological fats fluid and functional ceases to operate. The result is hardening of arteries, accumulation of plastic-like deposits in tissues, and the formation of structures that the body cannot resorb.

He described a specific case to illustrate how literal this process is. A woman on his program went through a cleansing episode involving a cold, flu, bladder infection sequence, and passed what appeared to be several stones. They looked like large particles of salt. When she took a hammer to them, she could not crush them, could not dent them. They were "completely hard rubber," indistinguishable in hardness from a plastic or rubber solid. These had formed inside her body from accumulated hydrogenated oil molecules that had crystallized and hardened over time.

The specific chemicals introduced to prevent mold from destroying plastic were PCBs and dioxins. Aajonus described these as "the worst poisons on the world" and "the most poisonous substance on the planet, the most carcinogenic substance on the planet." They were not produced as industrial byproducts of some other process. They were engineered for the express purpose of killing mold in plastic so the plastic industry could function. Every product made from plastic, from the 1960s onward, contains these compounds to varying degrees.

He estimated that by the time he was speaking, one third of the entire land mass of the planet had been contaminated with these substances since commercial plastic production began in earnest around 1967. He clarified that this did not mean the contamination was evenly distributed across all land, but that the volume of dioxins and PCBs released into the environment through plastic manufacturing, disposal, and off-gassing had reached a scale that touched one third of the planet's land mass, not including the oceans.

Plastics were not commercially viable in cars until approximately 1966, because until that point the industry had not succeeded in introducing sufficient antifungal poisons to prevent mold from destroying the plastic within six to eight months. Once they solved that problem, plastic proliferated into every domain of manufacturing. The seats in cars, toys children put in their mouths, carpets, drapes, clothing, bedding, food containers, cans lined with plastic coatings, and disposable kitchenware all carry these deliberately introduced carcinogens.

Because the molecular structure of hydrogenated vegetable oils is identical to plastic, Aajonus treated the ingestion of any hydrogenated oil as the ingestion of liquid plastic. This applies to margarine, any product made with hydrogenated vegetable oil, most commercial fried foods, and any food processed with partially hydrogenated fats. French fries, chips, donuts, and anything fried in hydrogenated oil delivers plastic molecules directly into the body. These molecules are what conventional nutrition calls trans fatty acids, but Aajonus rejected that label as insufficient. He called them what they are in his framework: plastic.

Once inside the body, these liquid plastic molecules behave like all plastic in his framework. They cannot be properly metabolized. If the body attempts to use them as building material for cells, it creates cells that are structurally compromised. If the body attempts to isolate them, it creates deposits. The body's temperature is not high enough to melt or dissolve plastic. He asked rhetorically who maintains a bath temperature of 102 degrees or higher for an hour and a half, and noted that people who visit hot springs may experience some release of hydrogenated oil deposits, because the external heat can temporarily raise body temperature enough to mobilize them. Otherwise, those deposits remain and accumulate.

He connected hardening of the arteries directly to hydrogenated vegetable oils, saying that arteriosclerosis does not come from animal fat. Animal fats, in his framework, are fully metabolizable and will not harden in the arteries. It is the plastic-equivalent molecular structure of hydrogenated vegetable oils that hardens, dehydrates, and crystallizes in the arterial walls.

Aajonus tracked plastic contamination in food storage carefully and practically. He described the history of plastic can linings in detail. Beginning around 1959, the King and Queen of England, who he said owned or controlled approximately 70% of all food manufacturing in the world, began exploring coating the inside of tin cans with plastic. By 1961, plastic coatings were applied to the interiors of cans throughout the food supply. This was done, he said, because the acidity of canned foods like tuna and tomato sauce was pulling metals out of the uncoated tin, causing massive metal contamination of the food. Canned tuna was one of the worst offenders for metal leaching. The plastic lining was the industry's solution.

The problem with the solution, in his framework, is that those plastic linings release bisphenol phosphates (BPA), phthalates, and other polymer off-gases directly into the food. He described experiments with frogs, rabbits, and other animals exposed to plastics in their food or environment. Male animals became female and female animals became male. The animals became sterile. The plastic compounds mimic female hormones, disrupt endocrine function, and scramble sex differentiation at the biological level. He connected this directly to the epidemic of prostate problems, erectile dysfunction in men, and hormonal imbalances in the general population.

Regarding specific food containers he was commonly asked about: Aajonus investigated Ball and Kerr canning jar lids in detail. He scraped the metallic-colored Kerr lids with a sharp paring knife and found that the clear undercoat curled like plastic, confirming the presence of a plastic coating that could dissolve into food. The Kerr lids also rusted quickly, which he cited as further evidence that BPA from the plastic was being absorbed into food. When he scraped Ball lids, the white undercoat chipped but did not curl or fragment, suggesting a harder coating that was less likely to dissolve in food under normal contact.

A Ball Company representative confirmed to him through an intermediary that the white interior lid does contain BPA in a modified vinyl formulation that is not enamel and does not contain PVC. The representative stated it was a small amount, and that it would require a 150-pound person to consume the BPA from 2,400 to 4,300 lids to reach the FDA's maximum safe daily limit. Aajonus estimated that the trace BPA from one lid dissolving into food over many months would take approximately 500 years for the coating of 2,300 lids to completely dissolve. His conclusion was that Ball lids, with their harder, enamel-like coating, do not leach into food in a practical sense. However, he stated that once the white coating has chipped, the lid should not be used and should be recycled with cans.

The Ball plastic storage caps are made from polypropylene, which is a number 5 plastic, and contain no BPA or PVC. Aajonus noted that Kerr lids' coating dissolves relatively quickly, while Ball lids' coating does not exhibit the same behavior. He recommended people test their own lids by scraping with a sharp paring knife: if a thin transparent or translucent material curls off, the lid is plastic-coated in a way that will dissolve into food.

He addressed Tattler lids, noting they claimed to be BPA-free but contained a small amount of formaldehyde, which the manufacturer stated would not leach unless heated above 250 degrees. He said that was not acceptable either direction.

He also addressed plastic storage caps versus parchment paper for butter. His position was that as long as butter is not frozen, plastic will not leach into it. However, there is a slight toxic film on plastic surfaces that will leach into butter on contact. His practice was to scrape plastic container surfaces before using them. For parchment paper, he trimmed 1/16 inch of butter from all surfaces, because the toxins used in paper manufacturing are easily absorbed into butter.

For coconut oil shipped in rinsed plastic jugs, he said the rinsed plastic containers do not leach into the coconut oil unless subjected to temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Water is a solvent, and Aajonus was emphatic on this point. Water leaches toxins from plastic more effectively than most other substances because of its solvent properties. He advised people not to drink much water at all, and never from plastic bottles. He said that his taste buds were sensitive enough to detect plastic in bottled water, and that anyone whose taste buds were functioning could taste it too.

He specifically referenced the shift of Gerolsteiner naturally sparkling mineral water from glass to plastic bottles in some markets. He said the water no longer tasted the same in plastic and recommended avoiding it in that form. His preferred waters at the time included Apollinaris, San Faustino, San Pellegrino, and Perrier, consumed sparingly. He noted that Gerolsteiner had stopped exporting water to the USA in glass while continuing to export in glass to other countries.

For plastic milk containers, he directly confronted Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures, who claimed the plastic in the milk containers was not getting into the milk. Aajonus challenged him, asking what test had been performed to verify this. His position was that plastic does get into milk stored in plastic, but that minerals in raw milk, specifically potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, will bind with the plastic compounds. The consequence is that those minerals are no longer bioavailable from the milk. He said the plastic in the milk is not necessarily going to cause severe harm because of this mineral binding, but it means the consumer is losing calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium from the milk. He concluded that it is better not to use plastic for milk storage regardless.

He gave a specific protocol for ice cubes: never make ice cubes in plastic because the freezing process causes BPA release into the water or food. He recommended Pyrex glass ice cube trays. To release the ice cubes, he said to apply lukewarm water to the outside of the mold at the hole section to loosen them.

His general rule, stated repeatedly: never freeze anything in plastic, never heat anything in plastic. Both freezing and heating dramatically increase BPA and other plastic compound release into food. He referenced the Mayo Clinic's website as having stated the same principle about not heating or freezing in plastic.

He addressed blending in plastic containers specifically, saying that any blending vessel that is plastic and contains acidic foods such as pineapple or other fruit will break down the plastic under the mechanical and chemical action of blending, releasing dioxins into the food. He recommended glass blending containers.

For cutting boards, plastic cutting boards release carcinogenic PCBs and dioxins with every cut. Any food processed on a plastic cutting board receives plastic contamination. He called the category of "food-grade" plastics a misnomer and a fraud, stating there are no food-grade glues or plastics that are completely nontoxic.

Aajonus treated synthetic fabrics as a major and underappreciated route of plastic exposure. Polyester, rayon, nylon, and any other synthetic fiber is plastic in fiber form. Even rayon, which is marketed as natural because it derives from pine needles, requires epoxies and polymer resins to transform the pine needle oil into a fiber. Pine needle oil is a vegetable oil, and when it is processed into rayon fiber, it goes through the same hydrogenation-equivalent chemistry that produces plastic. "When they get finished with it, it is not natural. It isn't like cotton, it isn't like silk. It is a plastic."

Every synthetic fabric lints. Lint is a constant off-gassing of microscopic fibers into the surrounding air. Anyone wearing synthetic clothing breathes those fibers. Anyone sleeping on synthetic sheets or using synthetic towels breathes lint continuously. Anyone in a room with synthetic carpet or synthetic drapes breathes the lint those fabrics release. Aajonus asked: "Would you eat plastic? What makes you think that you can take a fiber of plastic and get it into your lungs and dissolve it?" The fibers carry with them the PCBs and dioxins that were introduced to prevent the plastic from molding. Breathing plastic fibers means breathing dioxins into the lungs.

He presented a specific epidemiological observation from Vietnam. In Vietnamese cities including Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Hanoi, Da Nang, and Nha Trang, he said that essentially 100% of women in the cities wore synthetic pajama-style clothing as everyday wear. Men still largely wore cotton or silk. The rate of lung cancer in women in major Vietnamese cities was, in his observation, five times higher than anywhere else, and it was specific to women. Men in those cities, wearing cotton and silk, did not show the same elevation in lung cancer rates. He presented this as direct evidence of what happens when people continuously breathe plastic fibers from their clothing.

He applied the same principle to antibacterial blankets for children, noting that antibacterial blankets are made from plastic fibers and that parents are wrapping their infants in material that lints plastic into the baby's breathing air continuously.

For the lymphatic system, plastic fibers breathed into the lungs are taken up by lymph glands in the chest area, which attempt to process what they cannot dissolve. This leads to lymphatic congestion and, eventually, breast cancer and lung cancer, which he described as skyrocketing. He connected the accumulation of plastic polymer toxins in the lymphatic system directly to the inability of the lymph to clear its normal metabolic waste products, creating a compounding toxic burden.

He specifically named polypropylene from plastic clothing as a substance that, when breathed into the lungs, causes the lymph glands in that area to become overloaded, increasing both lung cancer and breast cancer risk. He called the trajectory of synthetic clothing use a public health catastrophe that was not being acknowledged.

Natural fibers, by contrast, can be moved through the body by mucus. Wool, cotton, silk, linen, and hemp (in unprocessed forms) can be partially carried by mucus from the lungs to the intestinal tract and eliminated without full digestion. Plastic fibers cannot be handled this way. Some silk and wool fibers can move with mucus flow; plastic fibers cannot.

Plastic flaking and powdering begins within approximately two years of a plastic object's manufacture. Car interiors with plastic components release constant fine plastic dust that occupants inhale. He distinguished leather interior surfaces from plastic ones, noting that leather, while processed with tannic acid, does not powder and flake like plastic. It can be oiled and waxed to maintain its surface integrity. Plastic will inevitably powder, and occupants breathe that powder during every drive.

He also addressed hot water bottles, recommending rubber hot water bottles over plastic ones. He noted that plastic hot water bottles off-gas and contaminate whatever they contact, while rubber ones merely smell strongly, which can be reduced by leaving them in the sun for thirty days.

Composite plastic dental fillings release gas, specifically a substance he referred to as BHS or BHA, which he said caused cancer in approximately 80% of animals subjected to the gases from hard plastic composites in testing. This substance is used to cure the plastic in composite fillings, and the gases from those fillings are inhaled or absorbed into surrounding tissues. He recommended porcelain inlays, onlays, or caps instead of composite plastic fillings.

The hormonal disruption effects of plastics, particularly from food contact plastics and can linings, were a consistent theme. Plastics contain synthetic female hormone compounds. The phthalates and bisphenol compounds that off-gas from plastic mimic estrogen. Men consuming foods stored in or processed through plastic are ingesting synthetic female hormones, which he said is causing massive prostate problems and epidemic erectile dysfunction. He noted that sixty years ago the public concern was suppressing excessive male sexual energy; now Viagra is a major market because plastic exposure has suppressed male hormonal function at the biological level.

For women, the hormonal mimicry from plastics is less acutely damaging because the compounds mimic female hormones, but the disruption of hormonal balance is still significant.

He connected plastic accumulation in the body to cancer through a specific mechanism. Cancer, in his framework, is the body's inability to dissolve dead cells and eliminate them. When plastic molecules are embedded in tissue, the surrounding dead cells cannot be dissolved normally because the plastic hardens the material further. The body responds by building fibroids or tumors to isolate and contain what it cannot dissolve. Women, he noted, have the advantage of the vaginal area as a site for fibroid development that does not affect vital function as severely, though it damages sex life. Men develop prostate tumors and tumors elsewhere.

He also connected plastic's role in lymphatic congestion to cancer development. The lymphatic system is the body's primary waste removal network. When it is clogged with plastic polymer toxins that it cannot dissolve or eliminate, the normal metabolic waste products of all cellular activity accumulate alongside the plastic. The lymph system stops moving efficiently. This creates conditions for tumor formation throughout the body.

Starting around 1967, when plastic was introduced broadly into everyday products and clothing manufacture, PCBs and dioxins began accumulating in the environment at a scale he described as extraordinary. He stated that one third of the entire land mass of the planet has already been contaminated with these substances. The oceans were not included in that estimate, which he presented as a separate and additional problem. This contamination flows through water systems and is taken up by plants and animals across the food chain.

He addressed a question raised by an audience member about wildlife research showing that PCBs and other fat-soluble toxins accumulate as you move up the food chain, even in wild animals eating entirely raw diets. The audience member noted that researchers found these toxins causing reproductive problems and both male and female sex organ development in the same animal. Aajonus acknowledged this directly, connecting it to his earlier discussion of plastic can linings and processed food containers, and saying that all processed food packaging now contains plastic lining. The PCBs and dioxins have entered the food chain broadly enough that even raw-diet wild predators are accumulating them from their prey, which accumulated them from the environment.

Despite his clear position that plastic storage should be avoided, Aajonus made a qualified statement about raw milk stored in plastic. The minerals naturally present in raw milk, specifically potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, will bind with plastic compounds that leach into the milk. This binding means the plastic compounds are partially neutralized. However, those minerals are then no longer bioavailable as nutrition. The milk loses some of its mineral content through this binding process. His conclusion was that even though the harm from the plastic is reduced by the mineral binding, the net effect is still a loss of nutritional value, and glass storage is always preferable.

He addressed a specific practical situation: raw cheese that was delivered warm, very soft, almost melted, wrapped in plastic. His answer depended on whether the cheese had been frozen. If the cheese had been frozen at any point, he said to discard it, because frozen cheese becomes very acidic and that acidity will dissolve more plastic from the wrapping and cause significant contamination. If the cheese was never frozen, cutting off 1 millimeter from all plastic-contact surfaces is sufficient to remove the contaminated layer. He did not recommend cutting off more than 1 millimeter for non-frozen cheese.

He specifically addressed rayon as a case study in misleading labeling. Rayon is sold as a natural fabric because it is derived from pine needles, which are a plant source. But the process of converting pine needle oil (a vegetable oil) into a fabric fiber requires the addition of epoxies and polymer resins that transform the oil into plastic in the same molecular way that hydrogenation transforms any vegetable oil into plastic. The finished rayon fiber is plastic. The vegetable oil origin does not make the end product natural in any meaningful sense. He said that cotton and silk can simply be spun into fiber; rayon and similar "natural" synthetic fabrics require chemical transformation that produces a plastic material in the end.