Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am looking for ways to test for BPA, Antimony, Pthalates, and EA (Estrogen Activity) Chemcials in plastic. I am going to use Iron III Chloride as an indicator for BPA but I can't find any other ways to test for concentrations of the others. Can you help?

Potentially harmful chemicals from plastics is a very hot topic right now and could be very interesting to research. However, the detection methods for some of these chemicals can be pretty technical and require very specialized equipment. Some quick Googling for "how to detect ____ in plastics" showed that researchers are using mass spectrometers or atomic absorption spectrophotometry (for example) to detect these chemicals.

Since most of these chemicals leach from the plastic into food during heating one way to possibly detect them would be to microwave separate water samples in several different types of plastic and then send the water out to be tested. There are many companys that will test your tap water for these chemicals who could test your samples. However, I'm sure they charge for this testing and it could be expensive for the several samples you'd need. Also, this method may not be your best demonstration of your ability to conduct scientific testing and experimentation.

Best of luck!

Audrey