Students say 'no' to plastic lunch boxes, water bottles

    • surekha.k@timesgroup.com
    • Publish Date: Sep 29 2016 8:49PM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Sep 29 2016 8:49PM
Students say 'no' to plastic lunch boxes, water bottles

The topic, Plastic — a curse or a boon, in class VI NCERT Science text became an eye opener for teacher Shamila S who brought about a change for the better in KV Pangode, Thiruvananthapuram

“All kinds of plastics give out harmful gases upon heating or burning which cause health problems, including cancer, in humans,” reads a sentence in the lesson ‘Garbage in, Garbage out’ under the topic ‘Plastic — a curse or a boon’. The lesson that is part of class VI NCERT Science text became an eye opener for teacher Shamila S who had noticed students having food from plastic lunch boxes. Reports stated that, “eating hot food from plastic containers causes cancer and drinking water from refilled disposable water bottles was equivalent to licking a toilet seat.”
This spurred Shamila to do a pilot project, plastic—not so fantastic, with her class V A of KV Pangode, Thiruvananthapuram. She began by giving awareness of the 
hazards of hot food and water in plastic containers. Initial surveys in the school showed that 50 per cent of students brought food in plastic lunch boxes and 95 per cent brought water in plastic bottles. Students were told that when hot food is filled in plastic containers, bisphenol, a neurotoxic substance, is formed in plastic containers which gets mixed with food and goes inside the body. Its long-term use causes thyroid problems, stomach problems, reproductive problems and even cancer. A study conducted by the Consumer Association of India (CAI) reported that school children carry hot lunch in plastic  boxes and water in plastic bottles as parents regarded it stylish.
When parents pack food in plastic  boxes for their kids in the morning do they cool it before packing? Are they not aware of the hazards of packing it hot? An awareness programme was conducted for the parents on the hazards of having hot food from plastic  boxes and drinking water from low quality plastic water bottles.
Nutritionists and food safety experts said it was not healthy to pack hot food and water in plastic containers. “Metal lunch boxes and water bottles are the best for 
carrying food and water,” they said.
Fruitful changes:  Regular awareness programmes, including interaction with the school doctor and nurse, campaign by class V A students in the school with placards carrying thought-provoking slogans and power point presentations created a positive change among the students. Now the students of class V A bring food in steel lunch boxes and 5l students of the 54 bring water in steel water bottles. 
The second survey showed that nearly 80 per cent students of K V Pangode have switched over to steel lunch boxes and many have started purchasing steel water bottles. Shamila aims to make students bring food and water in steel containers as their health is their wealth and children are the wealth of the family, school, community and of course the nation. “Let us not feed them toxins along with the food which we pack for them with love,” she said.

Comments

Arjun Gopalakrishnan Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Taylors Road

this should be a remarkable point in history to be seen by the government and i am sure government will notice this remarkable day some time !!!! good luck VI standards keep this running

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