Do You Know You Eat Petroleum Everyday Through Your Food?
10 minutes read.
Is petroleum edible? The answer is capital NO!
You may be aware that most of your household appliances are absolutely coated with petrochemical byproducts.
However, are you aware that crude oil or petrochemical byproducts are hiding in many foods and drugs you ingest in your body? Are you surprised?!
Petrochemical substances that are essentially poisonous for human consumption are even hiding in your medicine and you willingly put them into your stomach.
Scientific studies have shown that petrochemicals such as cumene, phenol, benzene, and other aromatics hydrocarbon are used to make not only aspirin but also penicillin and cancer-fighting drugs.
Unfortunately, you and I can’t escape all the risks, however, there are some you can intentionally avoid by getting fully informed of all their hideout and knowing the alternatives you may opt for.
That’s why I took my time to gather this information for you. Let’s deep into it!
In this article:
What’s Petroleum?
Petroleum, also called crude oil, is a naturally occurring liquid found beneath the earth’s surface that can be refined into fuel.
A fossil fuel, petroleum is created by the decomposition of organic matter over time and used as fuel to power vehicles, heating units, and machines, and can be converted into plastics.
What’re Petrochemicals?
Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum, although many of the same chemical compounds are also obtained from other fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas or from renewable sources such as corn, sugar cane, and other types of biomass.
What Medicine Contain Petroleum (Crude Oil)?
“Ultimately, most drugs are organic molecules made using petrochemical polymer.
Polymers are used to make pill capsules and coatings.
Time-release drugs rely on a tartaric acid-based polymer that slowly dissolves, administering just the right dose of medication.”
According to the Petro Industry News, “they may not necessarily be classified as ‘edibles’ but painkillers and vitamins are often packed full of petrochemicals.
They contain acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient in a multitude of over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin.”
Petroleum Hide Out
What Household Appliances Contain Petroleum?
Common toiletries such as toothpaste are petrochemical-based as well.
Although most people spit out their toothpaste, it’s inevitable that a fair bit of it gets ingested especially among children.
Many prominent toothpaste brands use not just one petroleum-based ingredient, but two including packaging material made from petrochemical byproducts.
“Many of the most popular toothpaste available today are made with sodium lauryl sulfate, a product commonly made from petroleum.
Sodium saccharin is another ingredient often found in toothpaste; it is a sweetener made from petroleum,” according to Portland State University’s Ecolife Project.
The average adult will use about 20 gallons of toothpaste over their lifetime.
We tend to look at drugs and toiletries as a category far away from food, although you often ingest them orally and they end up in our stomachs along with everything else we eat.
Well, this may not sound so surprising to you perhaps.
You may be aware that medicine is synthesized and created in laboratories full of all kinds of chemicals and that chemicals are petroleum and petrochemical byproduct.
According to Petroleum Service Company, Almost 99% of pharmaceuticals contain petrochemicals.
Petroleum is also the foundation of transporting medicine so that patients can have it when they need it. In fact, this is the main area in which petroleum is used in the medical field.
What Food Contain Petroleum?
When it comes to actual food, you would never imagine that there is crude oil lurking in your fridges and pantries. Really! Yes! a lot more of them than you would expect.
Thought Co. reports that “petrochemicals are used to make most food preservatives that keep food fresh on the shelf or in a can.
If you have ever eaten anything containing the preservative known as TBHQ, you’ve ingested a byproduct of petroleum.
It can be found in certain brands of foods including chicken nuggets, ice cream, crackers, and cookies. According to one CNN article, “It can also be found in varnish, lacquer, and resin.
In addition, you’ll find petrochemicals listed as ingredients in many chocolates and candies.
There are seven color food additives approved by FDA most of them are made from petrochemical byproducts.
Food colorings made with petrochemicals are used in a surprising number of products including chips, packaged foods, and canned or jarred foods.”
Chewing gum also includes petrochemicals as the basis for not just one but many of its primary ingredients.
It helps prolong the shelf life of food and, if it’s consumed at low levels, is considered safe.”
But what the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t look at is how many foods contain it and how many of these foods people are consuming in a day.
“In higher doses, TBHQ has been found to cause “nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse.
“People who enjoy the snap and long-lasting texture of their chewing gum can give a nod of thanks to petroleum-derived polymers according to LiveScience.
Today’s gum bases can consist of both natural latexes and petroleum products such as polyethylene and paraffin wax, which also means most gums are non-biodegradable.
But the first chewing gums typically relied upon the natural latex known as chicle – still the gum base of choice for some upscale gum brands and certain regional markets.”
How Do Farm Crops Get Contaminated With Petrochemicals?
Many synthetic fertilizers used for optimizing the growth of farm crops are made of petrochemical byproducts.
This is common among commercial agricultural crops. The petrochemicals give or enhance the nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in the soils and the fruits and vegetables grown from them.
Petroleum In Your Plastics
“More than a billion pounds of plastic are used around the world all made with petrochemicals.
The chemicals are used to make everything from plastic sheeting and mulch to pesticides and fertilizers.
Plastics are also used to make twine, silage, and tubing. Petroleum fuels are also used to transport foods (which are, of course, stored in plastic containers).”
In fact, our entire food system is fueled by oil, and agriculture is responsible for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second biggest greenhouse gas-emitting sector after the energy sector itself.
Related: What’s tBHQ Preservative? Can it cause Cancer?
Related: How Does the Fluoride in Toothpaste affect your Health?
Why Are Foods And Drugs Made With Petroleum?
Although you as consumers may not be aware of or mindful of the fact that so many of the things that you choose to consume contain some amount of petroleum in the form of petrochemicals, however, the petrochemicals were put there on purpose and are therefore almost certainly measured or regulated in some way.
But there are also plenty of things that we consume that are full of petrochemicals that are not supposed to be there at all.
And it’s not easy to avoid consuming these hidden petrochemicals, because one of the most common sources is something that you can’t live without. And what’s that? “Water!”
“You’re Literally Eating and Drinking Plastic. Fossil Fuels Are To Blame.” proclaims the non-profit organization Food & Water Watch.
“Everyone drinks water, and whether you drink tap water or bottled water, you are very likely ingesting some level of plastic pollution,”
I hope you’re getting some value from here.
Based on a study by Orb Media, which found that of 159 drinking water samples tested, sourced from cities and towns around the world, 83 percent contained microplastic fibers.
“That means food prepared with plastic-contaminated water becomes contaminated as well.”
Another recent study found 90 percent of bottled water analyzed from around the world contained plastic microfibers.
A single bottle of Nestlé Pure Life had concentrations of microfiber plastics up to 10,000 pieces per liter.
The type of plastic used to make bottle caps was the most common type of microplastic fiber found in bottled water.”
And it’s not just water that contains microplastics that are in no way supposed to be there. Microplastics have also been found in sea salt, seafood, beer, honey, and sugar.
It is widely accepted that in order to avoid catastrophic climate change, the world needs to decarbonize in a serious and urgent manner.
But while this may seem like a relatively simple goal on the surface, looking into the complex web of petrochemical tracing shows just how ubiquitous petrochemistry has become in our lives.
Not even our food is carbon-free. Not even our water is without traces of crude oil.
What of the drastic quantity of crude oil’s carbon emissions that are in the very air we breathe?
The oil industry’s control and saturation of the market have far-reaching implications that are unbelievably complex and simultaneously invisible.
At the same time that we go through our lives without thinking in any serious way about crude oil and its place in our lives, it is already in our bodies.
However, the truth is that you and I carry the responsibility of decarbonizing our environment and it’s quite a literal burden for us. There is no opting out.
Read more: How does chewing Gum affect your oral health?
Conclusion
Petrochemical substances that are essentially poisonous for human consumption are even hiding in your medicine, foods, and home appliances and you willingly put them into your stomach.
But the truth is you and I cannot avoid all these entirely because we carry the responsivity to decarbonize our environment.
However since you have found most of the hideouts of petroleum and petrochemicals today, try as much as you can to avoid the ones you can do without and limit your intake of the ones you cannot avoid.
I hope you get the value worth your time, I appreciate the time you spend with me. Leave a comment below if you find this article helpful and don’t forget to drop your question, opinion, or criticism if any. Cheers!
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The content provided in Living Good is for informational and educational purposes only. It’s not intended to provide medical advice or take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal doctor. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Living Good Blog takes no responsibility for possible health consequences of any person(s) reading or following the information in this educational content. Viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medication, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
