Styrene is a clear, colorless liquid that is a component of materials used to make thousands of everyday products for home, school, work, and play. Styrene is used in everything from food containers and packaging materials to cars, boats, and computers, medical, health, and safety equipment, and even video games. Derived from petroleum and natural gas byproducts, styrene helps create thousands of remarkably strong, flexible, and light-weight products, representing a vital part of our health and well-being.

A naturally occurring substance, styrene is present in many foods and beverages, including wheat, beef, strawberries, peanuts and coffee beans. Also found in the spice cinnamon, its chemical structure is similar to cinnamic aldehyde, the chemical component that elicits cinnamon's flavor. It is naturally present to flavor foods, and is used as a flavoring additive to such foods as baked goods, frozen dairy products, soft candy, and gelatins and puddings, with permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).*

Polystyrene meets stringent U.S. FDA standards for use in food contact packaging and is safe for consumers. Health organizations encourage the use of single-use food service products, including polystyrene, because they provide increased food safety.†

Some people confuse styrene, which is a liquid, with polystyrene, which is a solid plastic made from polymerized styrene. Styrene and polystyrene are fundamentally different. Polystyrene is inert, and has no smell of styrene. Polystyrene often is used in applications where hygiene is important, such as health care and food service products.

Styrene Information Research Center (SIRC) has invested many years of effort, and nearly $12 million in research funding, to develop the most thorough and accurate information about possible cancer effects resulting from styrene exposure. The results of extensive health studies of workers in styrene-related industries collectively show that exposure to styrene does not increase the risk of developing cancer, or any other health effect. Results of a two-year styrene inhalation study in rats, completed in 1996, also showed no increased incidence of cancer.