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Plastic Wrap for Food - Hazardous

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roland

roland

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Making news today is all about plastic in contact with foodstuffs and how potentially dangerous it is.

One wonders how ignorant people are..... I remember David Suzuki on tele talking about it years ago.

We avoid plastics as best we can - of course not always possible.

Here is a PDF info sheet from Suzuki's website to help identify the worst of the offending plastics: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/newsletter/plasticsbynumber.pdf
 
Re: Plastic Wrap for Food - Harzardous

Don't you find it odd that every year/month/week there is a new product to avoid because it gives us cancer and yet mortality rate of cancer has either been steady or lower on a 20-30year time frame.

You think exposure to all those dangerous chemicals over those 20-30years would increase the mortality rate of cancer....
 
Re: Plastic Wrap for Food - Harzardous

Note the source for the David Suzuki chart: a blog. They don’t bother to back that up with anything at all. Not a paper, not a link, nothing. I’m guessing they’ve just seen some articles in the paper…

The problem with news media reporting science is that they suck at it. In science, you come up with things that might be theoretically possible, and you tell people about it so other scientists can go look. Or they’ll find something in mice, and report it so that others, if so inclined, can look for similar effects in humans. But humans aren’t mice, and the majority of new animal results are *not* carried over to humans. “Research suggests” usually proceeds a story that will be debunked next year.

But that doesn’t stop the media reporting these speculative findings or even wild-ass theories as fact.

Interesting example: anti-oxidants. They were found at slightly higher levels in healthy, long-lived people. A mechanism was suggested that might account for it, and further research began. What did the media do? “ANTIOXIDANTS WILL MAKE YOU LIVE FOREVER”. Well it turns out – after the scientists actually went and looked – that anti-oxidants are mostly a by-product of other processes. See, fruit and veg are high in antioxidants, and the health benefits of fruit and veg are not a secret. So it’s a bit like saying that the colour green makes you live longer. No, it’s just that a lot of healthy foods are green. Adding green to a food isn’t going to make it healthier, is it?

So anti-oxidants do some nice things – a range of small but (very slightly) beneficial effects have been found. But an especially interesting finding is that in high doses antioxidants KILL YOU. Or rather, it “increases mortality in mice”, which sounds bad to me - and since we’re mostly relying on animal studies for the beneficial outcomes, too, then I feel comfortable saying that the jury is still out on the antioxidants. Minor health benefits on one side, death on the other. Sure, it’s only at very high levels that the death thing kicks in, but how many people add the stuff to their products, or trumpet high levels?

Media + marketing = retardation. Wait for the media to finally catch onto the death thing, and see all the folk come to comment on how scientists are idiots again... :banghead:

Plastics currently associated with food use are safe, as far as we can tell. Damaging effects have only ever been at the theoretical stage (this is being released, which might possibly do that), or in animal studies, and even then only at very minor levels. Nothing has been shown in humans at any significant level. That’s not a zero risk, but life is not zero risk. It’s an acceptable risk for most people who drive cars. And of course it may turn out that it was killing us all along, but “finding out new things” is another risk associated with having a future. It's why we keep looking.

So now we’ve got some more “maybes” trumpeted as “we’re all doomed” by the media. Surprise me.

Example: ZOMG PET will kill your endocrines!!!

From the actual paper:

Recent reports suggest that endocrine disruptors may leach into the contents of bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

…

Conclusions: More research is needed in order to clarify the mechanisms whereby beverages and condiments in PET containers may be contaminated by endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's the end all right. :rolleyes:

PS: sorry about the textwall. Work is quiet today, and the media vs science is one of my favourite deceased steeds... :p:
 
Re: Plastic Wrap for Food - Harzardous

Best to avoid certain materials just in case while jury is out debating if something healthy or not.

Same with mobile phones, too many electrical appliances active 24/7 around our body or even unventilated photocopy room supposedly filled in with superfine particles.

We have to die one way or the other, but why hasten the exit?
 
If we accepted all the advice about what is a danger to our health, we'd not take a breath, would not eat or drink anything, and exist in an insulated cell.
 
Julia said:
If we accepted all the advice about what is a danger to our health, we'd not take a breath, would not eat or drink anything, and exist in an insulated cell.
Click to expand...

Maybe so Julia, but as Happy said - it's all about hazard reduction. The more we know what is, or could be hazardous to our health, the more we empower ourselves to make better life choices.
 
roland said:
Maybe so Julia, but as Happy said - it's all about hazard reduction. The more we know what is, or could be hazardous to our health, the more we empower ourselves to make better life choices.
Click to expand...

Find out about where your food comes from and plastic will be your last worry.

Harvesting your own will eliminate alot of those problems. :)
 
I actually love goats cheese in a beetroot salad.
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