Why Plastic Kettles are Toxic

I’m sure I don’t need to convince you that eating plastic fragments is not good for your health, but here is what the research says about leaching of chemicals from plastic in food:

• Its not just BPA - a new study finds that a quarter of all chemicals in plastics could be equally harmful to you, with at least 1,000 chemicals identified as substances of concern which can be harmful even in small doses (there is no safe level of exposure).
• Plastic Toxins are leached 55 times more rapidly when exposed to boiling water.

I am very plastic conscious and avoid plastic food utensils:

• I try and avoid plastic containers and use glass or stainless steel instead.
• I never heat food in plastic containers because this leaches more toxins into the food.
• I avoid plastic spatulas because they eventually melt and flake off into food. Instead I use wood or silicon coated spatulas
• I don't use plastic wrap - instead use bees wax wraps for wrapping up food.
• I use silicon anti-spatter lids for the fridge rather than plastic.
• I don’t use plastic coffee filters or pods and use a glass coffee plunger instead.

But I never thought about my kettle. It was a hidden source of plastic toxins for me and probably the worst by a long way.

The solution

The solution is to find a stainless steel kettle with a stainless steel lid. The problem is, they can be hard to find and you will have to pay a bit more than the cheap plastic ones.

Most kettles have plastic on the inside of the lid, like this one:

I ended up buying the DeLonghi Icona kettle, because there's no plastic at all inside (note: I had to take out the removable filter on the spout, which has a plastic frame).