Worldwide studies have revealed the negative impact s of household disposable polystyrene cups on human health and environment.

Styrene is considered as possible human carcinogen by the WHO and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Migration of styrene from polystyrene cups containing beverages has been observed. Styrene enters into our body through the food we take, mimics estrogens in the body and can therefore disrupt normal hormonal functions. This could also lead to breast and prostate cancer.

The objective of this study is to develop a senitive, selective, accurate and reliable method for styrene determination using low carryover headspace sampler, HS-20 coupled with Ultra Fast Scan Speed GCMS to assess the risk involved in using polystyrene cups.