Are black plastic spatulas really that bad? Your exposure to toxins from popular cooking tools may not be as extreme as a recent study suggests.

In October, home cooks and foodies alike panicked when research was published that discovered toxic flame retardants in black plastic. The study, published in the journal Chemosphere, detailed how high levels of these flame retardants were found in kitchen utensils, food containers, meat trays and even toys. These flame retardants have been linked to, among other things, cancer and developmental disorders.

Researchers ultimately concluded that recycling electronics containing flame retardants was to blame, noting in the study that it “resulted in unexpected exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items.”

Now there’s a development in the story: As the National Post reports, the researchers made a miscalculation when analyzing the data, suggesting that the results aren’t as bad as they originally seemed.

Have you thrown away your black plastic spatula for no good reason? Here’s what you need to know about the update – and what the data actually means for you and your kitchen.

The misjudgment was pretty big

The original study broke down many different things, including the detection of decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE) in black plastic products. DecaBDE is a type of brominated flame retardant that was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021.

In the study, researchers estimated that using black plastic kitchenware could lead to a daily intake of 34,700 nanograms of decaBDE. However, in a section of the study on “health and exposure concerns,” researchers said the amount would “approach” the EPA’s safe exposure limit (also known as the reference dose).

The study notes that the reference dose for DecaBDE is 7,000 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day; According to the calculation, the reference dose for an adult weighing 60 kilograms would be 42,000 nanograms per day. This would put this risk at more than 80% of the EPA limit.

Here’s the thing: the bill was wrong. Sixty multiplied by 7,000 actually equals 420,000, not 42,000. As a result, the exposure level of 34,700 nanograms of decaBDE per day from black plastic is less than a tenth of the established EPA limit.

Megan Liu, lead study author and science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, tells Yahoo Life that this is a “sideline” in the study. “We’re sorry this happened,” she added.

Liu says she and her research team have submitted a correction to the journal, which will be published soon.

But that may not change the conclusion

Despite the math error, Liu says you should still be wary of black plastic kitchen utensils. “Our findings and conclusions remain unaffected,” says Liu.

“Our conclusion was never drawn from this calculation comparison,” Liu continues. “These highly dangerous carcinogenic products should not be included in the products that come into contact with our food. There are safer alternatives.”

Liu also emphasizes that DecaBDE is “just one type of chemical in one product we saw,” pointing out that “some products contained nine different flame retardants.”

Should you throw away your black plastic cooking utensils?

Although the presence of decaBDE may not be as potent as previously thought, Liu still says people should reconsider using black plastic cooking utensils.

“These products shouldn’t even contain these flame retardants in the first place,” she says. “They are still linked to cancer, neurological effects and developmental impairment.”

But Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health, tells Yahoo Life that it’s important to keep track of the results. “In the current study, researchers found high levels of bromine – raising suspicion of contamination from brominated fire retardant chemicals – in only about 10% of black plastic household products tested, suggesting that this occurs in the vast majority of black plastic household items “This is not the case.” “These contain pollutants,” she says. Therefore, most black plastic cooking utensils “may not pose an increased risk of toxicity to humans from this perspective,” says Johnson-Arbor.

Jamie Alan, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, also points out that the method used to detect these chemicals is different from the way people use them.

“They measured the amount of chemicals in black cooking utensils by literally melting them down and running them through a machine,” says Alan. “We don’t do that when we use these products. We still don’t know how much of the chemicals actually end up in the food.”

And from the amount that does When you convert it into food, only a certain portion is absorbed by the body, says Alan. “By and large, we don’t know how much of it is going into our bodies and what the effects of these chemicals are going to be at that concentration, whatever that ends up being,” she says.

While the updated calculation has a smaller impact than the original, “this study shows just one of the ways we are exposed to flame retardants in our daily lives,” Liu says. “We’re already exposed through our electronics, cars and furniture…that’s part of the bigger picture of exposure,” she adds.

Liu says her advice is the same as before: “If you can, reduce your plastic consumption. Not just black plastic, but plastic in general, which can reduce your exposure to harmful chemical additives.”