4 ms·

After coffee brewhaha, CA fears cancer warnings have “gone seriously wrong”

10 points by okket 8y ago

LinuxBender 8y ago
Here is one write-up on the topic [1]. In full disclosure, I am addicted to caffeine and prefer to get it from good tasting coffee. [1] - https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-the-research-really-shows.html https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-th...
danjoc 8y ago
"At high doses, it has been linked to cancer in animal studies. But the trace amounts found in coffee are not known to pose a threat." They used the same process (high doses) to condemn coffee that they used for alar treated apples. The people defending coffee sound like the same addicted people who defended cigarettes. The science is settled. Put down the cancerous bean beverage.
tynpeddler 8y ago
The most important tenet of toxicology is that "the dose makes the toxin." In high enough doses, everything is toxic, and in low enough doses, everything is safe. Toxic warning labels that are not informed by good dose-response information are worse than useless. They create noise that consumers must wade through in order to discover if a product is truly a risk. One of the worst examples of chemical paranoia that I've encountered in my career were the MSDS guidelines. The MSDS for water has an exhausting list of dangers and precautions. This made it much more difficult to assess the danger posed by other chemicals because they frequently had the exact same warnings as water. When everything is "dangerous", nothing is.
- JudasGoat 8y ago
  I didn't see anything scary or FUDlike in the Water MSDS. http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321 http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321
  - kencausey 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
  - Doxin 8y ago
    I mean this seems a bit over the top: > Personal Protection: Safety glasses. Lab coat but other than that I don't see anything odd there, although this is amusing too: > pH (1% soln/water): 7
  - tynpeddler 8y ago
    I think my memory inflated things a bit, but I usually check MSDS for personal protection and waste disposal. Both entries for a water are a little vague and overly cautious.

10 points by okket 8y ago

Here is one write-up on the topic [1]. In full disclosure, I am addicted to caffeine and prefer to get it from good tasting coffee. [1] - https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-the-research-really-shows.html https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/coffee-and-cancer-what-th...

danjoc 8y ago

"At high doses, it has been linked to cancer in animal studies. But the trace amounts found in coffee are not known to pose a threat." They used the same process (high doses) to condemn coffee that they used for alar treated apples. The people defending coffee sound like the same addicted people who defended cigarettes. The science is settled. Put down the cancerous bean beverage.

tynpeddler 8y ago

The most important tenet of toxicology is that "the dose makes the toxin." In high enough doses, everything is toxic, and in low enough doses, everything is safe. Toxic warning labels that are not informed by good dose-response information are worse than useless. They create noise that consumers must wade through in order to discover if a product is truly a risk. One of the worst examples of chemical paranoia that I've encountered in my career were the MSDS guidelines. The MSDS for water has an exhausting list of dangers and precautions. This made it much more difficult to assess the danger posed by other chemicals because they frequently had the exact same warnings as water. When everything is "dangerous", nothing is.

JudasGoat 8y ago
I didn't see anything scary or FUDlike in the Water MSDS. http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321 http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927321
- kencausey 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
- Doxin 8y ago
  I mean this seems a bit over the top: > Personal Protection: Safety glasses. Lab coat but other than that I don't see anything odd there, although this is amusing too: > pH (1% soln/water): 7
- tynpeddler 8y ago
  I think my memory inflated things a bit, but I usually check MSDS for personal protection and waste disposal. Both entries for a water are a little vague and overly cautious.