5 ms·

The article mentions to avoid greaseproof carryout food packaging, stain guards, waterproof clothing that uses PFAs, etc. but the problem is so much more than t

The article mentions to avoid greaseproof carryout food packaging, stain guards, waterproof clothing that uses PFAs, etc. but the problem is so much more than that. I wrote a paper last year regarding forever chemicals for my work. The US water supply is contaminated with forever chemicals, if you're drinking unfiltered tap water [1], you're likely drinking forever chemicals as well. If you eat /drink animal products, you're likely ingesting forever chemicals. If you use cosmetics, those contain toxic chemicals such as phthalates. If you use plastic containers to store food, the plastic particles leech off into your food. When you take hot showers, you breathe in forever chemicals through the steam as the water is contaminated. Even thermal paper, which is often used for store receipts, have been shown to increase BPA exposure in cashiers. [2] All these chemicals are known to increase cancer rates, disrupt hormones, cause birth defects, etc. Is it any wonder that we're seeing increasing rates of cancer, depression, etc? [1] https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/ [2] https://toxicfreefuture.org/handle-with-care-are-cash-register-receipts-giving-you-and-your-cashier-a-dose-of-bpa/#:~:text=BPA%20and%20its%20close%20relatives,BPA%2C%20BPS%2C%20or%20BPSIP https://toxicfreefuture.org/handle-with-care-are-cash-regist....

mistrial9 5y ago
". The US water supply is contaminated with forever chemicals" every water district produces some kind of yearly lab summary.. every water source is not the same, right? so yes and, plenty of commercial bottled water is similarly unreliable that way.. "All these .. Is it any wonder that we're seeing increasing rates of cancer, depression, etc?" Those things are part of the human condition in any epoch agree,yes, problems with long-lasting chemicals in ordinary life, for certain
- ne0flex 5y ago
  To your first point, you are correct. I think Miami, FL and Philadelphia, PA had some of the highest parts per trillion when it came to detecting forever chemicals, while Seattle, WA was on the lower end. Regarding your second point, I agree that these things are a part of the human condition, but my point is that their rates of occurrances are higher than they would be absent of the exposure to these chemicals.
Clampower 5y ago
So what reasonable steps can one take to effectively decrease intake of these. I have personally: stopped using food that is heated in plastic in the microwave. I drink mainly tap water, which I used to drink out of plastic bottles I refilled. I switched these to glass and metal. I stopped using my beloved water atomizer, as I also read on HN that inhaling this stuff is awful. I want to replace my plastic cutting boards and bowls. What else can I reasonably do?
- loudtieblahblah 5y ago
  there are expensive filters you can get for your whole house that filter out chlorine, lead and PFAS. They're about 800-2000 bucks. you can learn to cook on stainless steal as opposed to "not stick" pans. Even a lot of "ceramic" pots/pans can be suspect. You can switch to a french press for coffee (all coffee machines pass hot water through plastic before gettting to the pot). French Presses are a pain in the ass to clean, and it's been proven than French Press coffee having a lack of filter, somehow raises LDL cholesterol. I don't know a solution around that. but good luck shopping - damned near everything comes with some kind of plastic/water proof container. Just try avoiding plastic when buying cheese, yogurt, milk, frozen veggies, ice cream. Everything - even fresh meat and produce, is typically wrapped in more plastic than Laura Palmer. And health with food works just like technical privacy. It's a lot easier if you live a lone. If you have an active social life, a romantic partner or a family -- good luck. Because now you're the crazy person avoiding grease resistant pizza boxes, telling your kid "no you can't have bottled water" at the soccer game, and generally looking like a crazy person and driving your partner mad who just wants to enjoy their life.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Ancalagon 5y ago
    I realized a french press was raising my LDL (after switching to a french press for this very reason). Now I use a fine paper filter with a glass chemex for pour-over coffee, and it removes the LDL issue.
- 5y ago
loudtieblahblah 5y ago
there are things i'd rather not know. The pure act of existing in society, eating and doing what you need to survive is killing us and making us suffer along the way to that end. the amount of money, time, awareness and effort one needs to exert in daily life is absurd. Finding BPA/BPS/BADGE free canned goods. Avoiding plastic - but don't jump to that french press just yet - French Press coffee raises LDL. PFAS/BPAs/microplastics in our cookware, food storage, take--out/delivery food packaging. Our friggin tap water - unless you have a $1k filter on your home. Don't eat too much red meat - you'll get gout or heart disease or colon cancer. Careful with those antibiotics and eating starches or large intestine flora will activate Crohns or Ankylosing spondylitis. Don't eat too many carbs you'll get diabetes and heart disease. Don't eat too much seafood because of heavy metals and/or antibiotics. Watch out for the heavy metals in baby foods and root vegetables. Pesticides/herbicides on our fruits and veggies Antibiotics in our meat Seed-oils in all "middle aisle" food. but if you eat meat, they're feeding the animals seed-oils or food they wouldn't naturally eat, so the omega6 levels in beef, chicken skin, pork, and even eggs can be 25x-50x what it normally would be. Try to eat healthy, enjoy some spinach, sweet potatoes, some monosaturated fat heavy macademia nuts (to keep the omega6s low where you can), season your food with tumeric and black pepper for it's anti-inflammatory properties? Hellooooo kidney stones. I sure hope every bite of oxalate you consumed came with the appropriate amount of calcium to bind to. All the things you have to take in mind in order to maximize your dietary health and exposure to various toxins in the modern world can give someone serious psychiatric conditions. And it's hard to not justify those psychiatric conditions - with cancer, autoimmune, and other issues all on the rise, you sit back and look at your own kids and ask yourself "why did i even make you, all that's here is unavoidable suffering". What antifa/BLM did to small businesses in the rage they had for racial justice, this entire nation needs to evoke against the likes to Dow and DuPont and much of BigAg. The suffering chemical companies and the food industry has done to the population is a million fold what a couple of trigger happy racist cops have done. And yet... we do nothing. The FDA plays ping pong with PFAS and pretends it's not their responsibility. Companies dedicate to getting rid of "some" of them on a 10 year time span, doing god knows how much more damage to us. Something poisonous is in damned near everything we consume or touch. You could eat a perfect blue zone diet in america and still die of cancer at 62 years old.
sizzle 5y ago
What about the faux-cardboard takeout boxes impregnated with plastic lining? Steaming hot food is placed in these and must be heating it up and absorbing some of these chemicals?

mistrial9 5y ago

". The US water supply is contaminated with forever chemicals" every water district produces some kind of yearly lab summary.. every water source is not the same, right? so yes and, plenty of commercial bottled water is similarly unreliable that way.. "All these .. Is it any wonder that we're seeing increasing rates of cancer, depression, etc?" Those things are part of the human condition in any epoch agree,yes, problems with long-lasting chemicals in ordinary life, for certain

ne0flex 5y ago
To your first point, you are correct. I think Miami, FL and Philadelphia, PA had some of the highest parts per trillion when it came to detecting forever chemicals, while Seattle, WA was on the lower end. Regarding your second point, I agree that these things are a part of the human condition, but my point is that their rates of occurrances are higher than they would be absent of the exposure to these chemicals.

Clampower 5y ago

So what reasonable steps can one take to effectively decrease intake of these. I have personally: stopped using food that is heated in plastic in the microwave. I drink mainly tap water, which I used to drink out of plastic bottles I refilled. I switched these to glass and metal. I stopped using my beloved water atomizer, as I also read on HN that inhaling this stuff is awful. I want to replace my plastic cutting boards and bowls. What else can I reasonably do?

loudtieblahblah 5y ago
there are expensive filters you can get for your whole house that filter out chlorine, lead and PFAS. They're about 800-2000 bucks. you can learn to cook on stainless steal as opposed to "not stick" pans. Even a lot of "ceramic" pots/pans can be suspect. You can switch to a french press for coffee (all coffee machines pass hot water through plastic before gettting to the pot). French Presses are a pain in the ass to clean, and it's been proven than French Press coffee having a lack of filter, somehow raises LDL cholesterol. I don't know a solution around that. but good luck shopping - damned near everything comes with some kind of plastic/water proof container. Just try avoiding plastic when buying cheese, yogurt, milk, frozen veggies, ice cream. Everything - even fresh meat and produce, is typically wrapped in more plastic than Laura Palmer. And health with food works just like technical privacy. It's a lot easier if you live a lone. If you have an active social life, a romantic partner or a family -- good luck. Because now you're the crazy person avoiding grease resistant pizza boxes, telling your kid "no you can't have bottled water" at the soccer game, and generally looking like a crazy person and driving your partner mad who just wants to enjoy their life.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Ancalagon 5y ago
  I realized a french press was raising my LDL (after switching to a french press for this very reason). Now I use a fine paper filter with a glass chemex for pour-over coffee, and it removes the LDL issue.
5y ago

loudtieblahblah 5y ago

there are things i'd rather not know. The pure act of existing in society, eating and doing what you need to survive is killing us and making us suffer along the way to that end. the amount of money, time, awareness and effort one needs to exert in daily life is absurd. Finding BPA/BPS/BADGE free canned goods. Avoiding plastic - but don't jump to that french press just yet - French Press coffee raises LDL. PFAS/BPAs/microplastics in our cookware, food storage, take--out/delivery food packaging. Our friggin tap water - unless you have a $1k filter on your home. Don't eat too much red meat - you'll get gout or heart disease or colon cancer. Careful with those antibiotics and eating starches or large intestine flora will activate Crohns or Ankylosing spondylitis. Don't eat too many carbs you'll get diabetes and heart disease. Don't eat too much seafood because of heavy metals and/or antibiotics. Watch out for the heavy metals in baby foods and root vegetables. Pesticides/herbicides on our fruits and veggies Antibiotics in our meat Seed-oils in all "middle aisle" food. but if you eat meat, they're feeding the animals seed-oils or food they wouldn't naturally eat, so the omega6 levels in beef, chicken skin, pork, and even eggs can be 25x-50x what it normally would be. Try to eat healthy, enjoy some spinach, sweet potatoes, some monosaturated fat heavy macademia nuts (to keep the omega6s low where you can), season your food with tumeric and black pepper for it's anti-inflammatory properties? Hellooooo kidney stones. I sure hope every bite of oxalate you consumed came with the appropriate amount of calcium to bind to. All the things you have to take in mind in order to maximize your dietary health and exposure to various toxins in the modern world can give someone serious psychiatric conditions. And it's hard to not justify those psychiatric conditions - with cancer, autoimmune, and other issues all on the rise, you sit back and look at your own kids and ask yourself "why did i even make you, all that's here is unavoidable suffering". What antifa/BLM did to small businesses in the rage they had for racial justice, this entire nation needs to evoke against the likes to Dow and DuPont and much of BigAg. The suffering chemical companies and the food industry has done to the population is a million fold what a couple of trigger happy racist cops have done. And yet... we do nothing. The FDA plays ping pong with PFAS and pretends it's not their responsibility. Companies dedicate to getting rid of "some" of them on a 10 year time span, doing god knows how much more damage to us. Something poisonous is in damned near everything we consume or touch. You could eat a perfect blue zone diet in america and still die of cancer at 62 years old.

sizzle 5y ago

What about the faux-cardboard takeout boxes impregnated with plastic lining? Steaming hot food is placed in these and must be heating it up and absorbing some of these chemicals?