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Is there any evidence that plastics we use for food containers are harmful? The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small. T

Is there any evidence that plastics we use for food containers are harmful? The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small. This study wasn't feeding them food from a plastic container, it was feeding them two of the isolated chemicals in a solution, so it really doesn't show any harm in itself. Even drinking water from lead pipes is safe as long as there aren't failures that cause the lead to get carried away by the water. Same with asbestos building materials, etc. Just touching a toxic substance doesn't necessarily poison you.

reedjosh 4y ago
> The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small Life expectancy is a bad measure for two reasons. 1). The major bump in life expectancy of the 20th century is largely due to the number of infants that survive compared to the past. 2). We wouldn't see a decline in life expectancy that's due to exposure in womb until said children were of an age that mattered. Not to mention pure quality of life issues.
rajup 4y ago
Harm does not necessarily mean only life threatening issues IMO. There have been a bunch of studies recently indicating dropping male fertility with strong links to plastic consumption.
ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small. This is terrible logic. If something causes deafness, blindness, or missing toes it will not affect life expectancy. Additionally, suppose in same year a drug against cancer i.proves life expectancy by 5 years and plastic pollution causes it to go down by 5 years - so you will never find out.
- sacrosancty 4y ago
  That's what I mean by very small harm - hard to isolate from other factors, so no really relevant to individuals' lives. Disabilities can obviously be treated the same way - we don't have an epidemic of blindness. Maybe it's coming when all those plastic-bottle-using-mothers'-babies reach 80 years old, but the chance of anything dramatic happening is shrinking as time goes by.
pengaru 4y ago
> Is there any evidence that plastics we use for food containers are harmful? Would you consider underdeveloped male fetuses a harmful consequence? Because we have some pretty strong evidence that Bisphenols are causing exactly that.
- sacrosancty 4y ago
  Bisphenols aren't food from plastic containers. I'm sure if you set fire to your water bottle and inhale the fumes, some thing worse could happen than if you just drink the water.
loa_in_ 4y ago
The effects are probably counteracted by increase of charity funded additional health care disabled people get thanks to network effects

reedjosh 4y ago

> The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small Life expectancy is a bad measure for two reasons. 1). The major bump in life expectancy of the 20th century is largely due to the number of infants that survive compared to the past. 2). We wouldn't see a decline in life expectancy that's due to exposure in womb until said children were of an age that mattered. Not to mention pure quality of life issues.

rajup 4y ago

Harm does not necessarily mean only life threatening issues IMO. There have been a bunch of studies recently indicating dropping male fertility with strong links to plastic consumption.

ClumsyPilot 4y ago

> The continued life expectancy of humans seems to show that any harm is very small. This is terrible logic. If something causes deafness, blindness, or missing toes it will not affect life expectancy. Additionally, suppose in same year a drug against cancer i.proves life expectancy by 5 years and plastic pollution causes it to go down by 5 years - so you will never find out.

sacrosancty 4y ago
That's what I mean by very small harm - hard to isolate from other factors, so no really relevant to individuals' lives. Disabilities can obviously be treated the same way - we don't have an epidemic of blindness. Maybe it's coming when all those plastic-bottle-using-mothers'-babies reach 80 years old, but the chance of anything dramatic happening is shrinking as time goes by.

pengaru 4y ago

> Is there any evidence that plastics we use for food containers are harmful? Would you consider underdeveloped male fetuses a harmful consequence? Because we have some pretty strong evidence that Bisphenols are causing exactly that.

sacrosancty 4y ago
Bisphenols aren't food from plastic containers. I'm sure if you set fire to your water bottle and inhale the fumes, some thing worse could happen than if you just drink the water.

loa_in_ 4y ago

The effects are probably counteracted by increase of charity funded additional health care disabled people get thanks to network effects