burgersc12 comments on Every generation has some product/ingredient that they didn’t know was dangerous at the time: tobacco, lead, asbestos, etc. What is that item for this generation?

[–] burgersc12@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 years ago (1 child)

Plastic. Its in your blood ffs

[–] keenanpepper@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 years ago (2 children)

This may be true but I hate the practice of referring to "plastic" as if it's a single substance. It's a bunch of different materials that don't really have that much in common with each other, especially from a health/toxicity standpoint.

For example, people treat it as common sense that "you shouldn't burn plastic" because the smoke is "toxic". For PVC this is totally true, it makes very nasty stuff like dioxin that will poison you. But on the other hand you can burn polyethylene (think milk jug) and it's no more toxic than burning a candle. Definitely way healthier to breath than wood campfire smoke, for example.

There's also such a silly pattern where people learn some chemical might have some effect on the body and suddenly everyone is up in arms about it. For example Bisphenol A in many applications was replaced by the very similar Bisphenol S just so things could be labeled "BPA Free". BPS probably has similar estrogenic effects to BPA.

I'd say the moral of the story is be wary of received wisdom about chemical toxicity from people who aren't chemists.

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[–] erogenouswarzone@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 years ago

Not only BPAs but many chemicals like BPAs can cause birth defects because our bodies think they are estrogen.

If this worries you, read the books It Starts With the Egg and Grain Brain.

They both suggest that not only what you eat, but how it's prepared can affect the health of a child.

For instance it's a big no-no, according to It Starts With the Egg, to heat most plastics in the microwave. The heat breaks the plastic down, it can get in your blood, your body will think it's estrogen, and they don't even know the full effects of this yet.

So think about

burritos in plastic wrapping,
cling wrap on a bowl,
reheating leftovers in Tupperware,
disposable cutlery

These chemicals are not just in food:

your car's interior
your cell phone case
even the clothes on your back, unless they're 100% pure, untreated, natural fabric, may have been made with these chemicals.

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[–] sadbehr@lemmy.nz 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

Have you heard of Dihydrogen monoxide? It literally kills hundreds of thousands of people every single year all over the world, including young children.

You don't hear about it in the news though do you....

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