Potential hazards of black plastic spatulas, etc.

[AlaMoi]

awww, tell me they didn't fib (again).....

[paulraphael]

On 12/14/2024 at 11:36 AM, Alex said:

Follow-up: They're not as risky as previously thought -- the researchers miscalculated.

 

Yup. They were off by an order of magnitude. They now think the daily exposure from using bad spatulas is less than a 10th the reference dose (EPA maximum safe daily dose, established by giving diseases to mice). 

[btbyrd]

I always just buy the red one. 

[Shel_B]

I just don't buy or use plastic ... problem solved.

[Laurentius]

26 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

I just don't buy or use plastic ... problem solved.

 

Yeah, I'm with you.  We can disputate on daily doses and calculation errors, but why?  Black plastic utensils and food storage items aren't essential, or even important, to me to start with, and (whatever) the risk just isn't worth taking.

[Shel_B]

3 hours ago, Laurentius said:

 

Yeah, I'm with you.  We can disputate on daily doses and calculation errors, but why?  Black plastic utensils and food storage items aren't essential, or even important, to me to start with, and (whatever) the risk just isn't worth taking.

I somewhat misspoke earlier as I recently purchased some deli containers because my storage needs changed somewhat.  They are pretty much used for storing grains and pasta and sometimes for freezing soup or sauce.  But there are no other plastic cooking utensils, such as spatulas or stirrers in the apartment, nor do I use plastic wrap.  There are some plastic freezer bags that I use, although I reuse them until they are useless in order to minimize plastic waste.

Edited Tuesday at 06:58 PM by Shel_B
addl info (log)

[paulraphael]

Without takeout containers my life would not work. 

 

I'm not afraid of polyethylene or polypropylene. I did replace my black plastic rectangular takeout containers with white ones after the scare article came out (and before the partial retraction). But not with any real sense of urgency.

 

I remember when research first showed that BPA was harmful. I was struck by an interview with one of the molecular biologists on the research team. She was asked if she was going to get rid of all the polycarbonate in her life, and she said maybe she'd ditch old baby bottles if she had an infant. And she'd look for canned tomatoes in BPA-free cans. But she wasn't giving up her polycarbonate water bottle! 

 

And neither did I. No one can have my vintage '80s and '90s Nalgene bottles. They're too good. 

 

The amount of bad stuff that gets absorbed is a factor of time exposed, temperature, and acidity. Canned tomatoes are a perfect storm of bad news. Cold water in a hiking water bottle? You are guaranteed to die of something else. 

[paulraphael]

Repercussions: https://arstechnica.com/health/2024/12/journal-that-published-faulty-black-plastic-study-removed-from-science-index/

 

"The publisher of a high-profile, now-corrected study on black plastics has been removed from a critical index of academic journals amid questions about quality criteria, according to a report by Retraction Watch."