If you asked parents whether they'd like their kids' school lunches served with a side of microplastics and chemicals, we think they'd say, "Hard pass." Yet plastic is exactly what most students at K-12 schools and universities across the country are still eating off of every day — containers, wrappers and utensils that shed nanoplastics and microplastics and leach chemical additives like PFAS into their food.

About 16,000 chemicals are found in plastic — 4,200 of these are already known to be harmful, and thousands more haven’t even been tested for their safety. Those chemicals are especially concerning when you consider that plastic has been found in just about every part of the body: blood, liver, heart, brain, lungs, testicles, breast milk and more.

The chemicals of greatest concern in plastic foodware fall into three families: bisphenols, used in plastic containers and the lining of food cans; phthalates, which make plastic wraps, tubing and packaging flexible; and PFAS, used to repel oil, grease and water. The American Academy of Pediatrics warns of the association between chronic PFAS exposure in children and elevated cholesterol, slightly lower birth weight, and reduced immune response to vaccines and infections. Children are uniquely vulnerable to chemical exposures — they weigh less, eat and drink more........

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