Eight-month-old baby swallowed a plastic bag

In our daily lives, we often need to use plastic bags. As a convenient product, plastic bags are becoming more and more widely used. But everyone also knows that plastic bags cannot be naturally degraded and cannot be digested and absorbed by the human body. If we accidentally eat plastic bags, it can easily affect the normal functioning of our body organs. So, what should you do if your eight-month-old baby accidentally swallows a plastic bag?

Plastic bags are bags made of plastic (commonly used plastics include polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon, etc.) as the main raw material. They are indispensable items in people’s daily lives and are often used to hold other items. It is widely used because of its advantages of being cheap, extremely light, large capacity and easy to store. However, due to the disadvantages of plastic bags, which have an extremely long degradation cycle and are difficult to handle, their production and use are banned in some countries.

Commonly used food plastic bags are mostly made of polyethylene film, which is non-toxic and can be used to hold food. There is also a film made of polyvinyl chloride. Polyvinyl chloride itself is also non-toxic, but the additives added according to the purpose of the film are often harmful substances to the human body and have certain toxicity. Therefore, this type of film and plastic bags made from it are not suitable for holding food. If you want to distinguish between polyvinyl chloride plastic bags and polyethylene plastic bags, you can use the following simple method to identify them.

Polyethylene film (non-toxic)

The film is milky white and translucent (especially obvious when several layers are stacked together), feels smooth, as if the surface is coated with wax, and makes a crisp sound when shaken hard. It is flammable when exposed to fire, has a yellow flame, and has mucus dripping when burning and the smell of a burning candle.

Polyvinyl chloride film (generally toxic)

If no pigment is added, it is transparent and feels a little sticky on the surface. When shaken vigorously, it makes a low sound. It does not burn easily when exposed to fire and goes out as soon as it is away from the flame. The flame is green.

Plastic bags have a low recycling value. In addition to causing visual pollution when scattered on city streets, tourist areas, water bodies, and on both sides of roads and railways during use, they also pose potential hazards. The plastic structure is stable, not easily degraded by natural microorganisms, and will not separate for a long time in the natural environment. This means that if waste plastics are not recycled, they will become pollutants in the environment, exist for a long time and continue to accumulate, causing great harm to the environment.