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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
 Posted - 05/10/2006 : 17:07:15 [Permalink]
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| I've heard that combining a microwave and styrofoam will open a rip in the space-time continium, or something like that. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 17:22:36 [Permalink]
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I knew a guy at my old job who was battling cancer. He was convinced that moderns plastics release cancer-causing gases over time. He said the rise in modern cancers can traced back to coincide with plastic use. I felt sorry for the guy, but I didn't really buy it. I think that he, like most victims of disease, just needed someone or something to blame.
According to snopes.com, the rumor that microwaving food in plastic containers releases cancer-causing agents is false.
quote:
Dr. George Pauli, a leading Food and Drug Administration scientist, acknowledged that some plasticizers do migrate into foods, particularly those containing a lot of fat, oil, or sugars. But research has found no ill effects from consumption of plasticizers in FDA-approved plastic wraps or from freezing or re-using plastic water bottles. Even so, others remain unconvinced, and those on both sides of the issue recommend not letting plastic wrap touch food during microwaving.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 17:30:23 [Permalink]
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Actually microwaving the Chinese takeout in that white Styrofoam folding container will result in Styrofoam tasting food. Mmmmm...
Paper containers without the wire handles are OK.
It's best to dump such food into a "microwave safe" dish or container. Styrofoam might also outgas when heated, though I don't know what the fumes contain.
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Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 17:50:06 [Permalink]
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| But if you take styrofoam and mix it with WD-40, it turns into this cool putty that you can light on fire. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 18:11:58 [Permalink]
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It's not the plastics themselves which are thought to be a danger, it's the chemicals used in the plastics manufacturing processes which have some people up in arms. Bisphenol A, for example, can leach out of plastics under certain conditions, and its health effects, if any, are still being considered.
The news program, your roommate's mother, and your roommate, Ricky, are all (probably) being needlessly alarmist. Especially since I think it's more likely that they'll develop cancer from breathing automobile exhaust while stuck in a traffic jam, but that idea probably doesn't freak 'em out like the plastics thing did, does it?
I wonder how many people there are in the US who would prefer to put themselves into a state of clinical dehydration (with all its associated immediate health risks) than to drink from a plastic bottle of water. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 05/11/2006 : 15:31:37 [Permalink]
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quote:
Dr. George Pauli, a leading Food and Drug Administration scientist, acknowledged that some plasticizers do migrate into foods, particularly those containing a lot of fat, oil, or sugars. But research has found no ill effects from consumption of plasticizers in FDA-approved plastic wraps or from freezing or re-using plastic water bottles. Even so, others remain unconvinced, and those on both sides of the issue recommend not letting plastic wrap touch food during microwaving.
I quite often find myself becoming annoyed when reading certain snippets of information in newspapers or on the net. At certain times I want to read more about the subject written about and sometimes getting references for how certain conclusions were reached. In this case I just felt like reading a bit more about the research that Dr. Pauli was referring to. Could I? I tried googling for George Pauli and plasticizers and all I got were hundreds of hits with the exact quote as above. Using scholar.google.com gives nothing useful. Without being able to get the relevant research, these things essentially turn into arguments from authority. Annoying... Sorry, I just just had to vent my feelings... |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 05/12/2006 : 10:27:40 [Permalink]
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Most plastic contain dioxins and other carcinogens which are released into the air when the plastic is melted to the temperatures which are required for molding. In proper conditions this vapor is carefully vented so that the toxins dont poison the workers and those downwind from the production facility.
Of course a majority of the worlds facilities do not properly protect the production process and many of the workers face deadly risks. When you are looking to buy those cheap plastic goods from the dollar store you are poisoning Chinese and other cheap labor forces. (You evil bastards)
It it entirely conceivable that these chemicals could partially evaporate from the surface of your home plastics if they reach very high temperatures.
For those who think the coincidence is because we started using plastics, you should remember that in the 50-60s we started doing all sorts of things we never did before, like eating deep fried junk many times a week. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
| Edited by - BigPapaSmurf on 05/12/2006 10:28:57 |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2006 : 00:10:37 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Ricky
Has anyone else ever heard claims like this? Who are they coming from?
1. Yes.
2. It was so long ago, seems like at least a couple of years, I forget where but at that time they said it was only certain kinds of plastics and I believe under certain kinds of conditions. It wasn't just a quick item on the news though, I'm pretty sure.
I also thought it was acid type foods (orange juice, etc.) that shouldn't be put in plastic containers for too long. But I never researched it 'cause it wasn't anything applicable to me.
Hey, glass with lead is not good either, haha and who knows what else. Why worry! It will take a while to kill you, by that time you'll be so old you won't care! Have fun while you can. |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2006 : 00:39:39 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by BigPapaSmurf
Most plastic contain dioxins and other carcinogens which are released into the air when the plastic is melted to the temperatures which are required for molding. In proper conditions this vapor is carefully vented so that the toxins dont poison the workers and those downwind from the production facility.
Of course a majority of the worlds facilities do not properly protect the production process and many of the workers face deadly risks. When you are looking to buy those cheap plastic goods from the dollar store you are poisoning Chinese and other cheap labor forces. (You evil bastards)
It it entirely conceivable that these chemicals could partially evaporate from the surface of your home plastics if they reach very high temperatures.
For those who think the coincidence is because we started using plastics, you should remember that in the 50-60s we started doing all sorts of things we never did before, like eating deep fried junk many times a week.
It was just before the '50s when uranium was stopped from being used in ceramics to get the color yellow glaze. (Damn! it was so pretty too.) So, if anyone has any old dishes, you could be getting radiation poising too. (The world is a dangerous place )
I shop at the 99 Cents Only Stores (not everywhere yet but soon), they are like but better than the Dollar stores. Some of the plastic items they have are from Israel too. How will Israel get money to buy bomber planes if you don't buy that stuff?
Speaking of dioxin, because I work with that stuff. Here's an article from a well known trade magazine, that might be of interest.
http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/dioxins.htm
Conclusion:
Not knowing the exact exposure of ceramicists to the different isomers( different levels of toxicity) identified in kaolins and ball clays, it is very difficult to discuss this problem properly. For obvious reasons, we should be more worried about employees working in mining and processing these dioxin-containing clays, and by pottery factory employees than by studio potters, hobbyists, teachers and their students. The use of clays made without ball clays could be recommended for those more worried while awaiting more information. However, in Ceramics Monthly, January 2001, page 8, Dr. David Cleverly of EPA in Washington DC. is cited as having written the following to a potter:
The good news is that once the ball clay has been commercially processed in a kiln before it is sold to potters, all the dioxin is removed. We have verified this in EPA's laboratories. So you can rest easy and continue making great art out of ball clay.
Still, it would be good practice to proceed to good housekeeping of workshops, to avoid unnecessary dusty operations and to use an appropriate dust mask to prevent hazardous exposure.
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| Edited by - Snake on 05/13/2006 00:43:12 |
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 05/13/2006 : 15:33:50 [Permalink]
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I am a bit weird when it comes to this subject given my typical skeptical self. First, no way on the styrofoam. It melts in the microwave, that can't be good. I don't even like it when the food comes in it since heat alone melts it. And so does citric acid if my memory serves me. There's something about not using lemon in tea in a styrofoam cup.
But I also worry about the butter knife scraping the butter container, so I use a softer spatula when the container needs the sides scraped. Think about it. The containers are tested but do they check for how much plastic you'd consume, granted a few molecules at a time, by scraping the butter dish over your lifetime? Maybe harmless, but maybe not. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 05/15/2006 : 04:57:42 [Permalink]
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A while back, on an SNL Weekend report, I heard that cancer was hereditary in white lab rats. This got my attention so ...
Aw hell, I got nothing. |
Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2006 : 03:13:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
But if you take styrofoam and mix it with WD-40, it turns into this cool putty that you can light on fire.
Works better with gasoline.
Disolve as much styrofoam in a given volume of gasoline as you can, and you have napalm.
Put it in a glass jar, stuff a rag in the top... you see where I'm going.
I also know how to make a small FAE with non-dairy cofee creamer, but that one is so easy people will be tempted to try it, so not posting it 
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/16/2006 : 04:01:04 [Permalink]
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A solution to the styrofoam peanut proliferation -- well, a few of 'em, anyway.
I always keep a few in my surf fishing tackle box to use with small bait fish such as finger mullet when using them dead. I simply cram the peanut, or a piece of it, into the bait, and that keeps it off the bottom. Especially good when fishing in eel grass beds.
Dude, I know the coffee creamer trick. It also works with flour and fine, dry sawdust. And iron grindings will go off with an impressive bang if they are fine enough to briefly suspend in air.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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