Kitchen plastics

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that people avoid using plastics in the kitchen--particularly plastics labeled 3, 6, and 7, unless they are marked as BPA-free. They recommend that consumers do not use any plastics (whatever the number) in the dishwasher or microwave. The reason? Several kitchen plastics contain endocrine disrupters, which can cause or contribute to disease and certain types of cancer.
If you use plastic spoons or utensils to cook with, don't leave them in the pot while you're cooking (the heated plastic can leech BPA into the food), instead use a spoon rest--better yet, switch out your plastics to glass, wood, stainless steel or other natural materials.

Information reported in Reader's Digest Feb. 2010, pg. 21.