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It's surprising to me how much we don't understand about plastic still. Years ago I was in a kitchen shop with an out of town friend and we saw some Sous Vide
by productizeme93 3y ago
It's surprising to me how much we don't understand about plastic still.
Years ago I was in a kitchen shop with an out of town friend and we saw some Sous Vide equipment. I told her that we had one and that you could either plastic bags or vacuum sealed bags to cook in the water. Her reaction was an immediate "absolutely not." That's when I realized that she worked in a lab that focused on plastics. Her big call out was that there's been studies on heat and how it relates to plastic breakdowns, but those are at high temperatures. There wasn't much related to lower level heats applied for longer periods of time. Based on what she knew from the other studies, she refused to go near anything like Sous Vide as she assumed it was way too risky.
- PlunderBunny 3y agoWe're all part of a giant experiment. It's a bad experiment too, in the sense that it doesn't really have a proper control group.
- justinclift 3y agoThe control group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinelese https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinelese
- kennywinker 3y agoI'm pretty sure they're being exposed to plastic too, at this point. Via seafood mostly, so probably at a lot lower concentrations.
- rkagerer 3y agoPlastic aside, that was an interesting read.
- throwaway290 3y agoDon't think so. This is nanoplastics we're talking about. Even microplastics are found everywhere (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/microplastics-in-virtually-every-crevice-on-earth https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/microplas...). stuff spreads well through water air precipitation foodchain etc. Remember how they they could not find a control group for PFAS anywhere on the planet, I'm sure this is true for all common pollutants. Edit: OK, I replaced the link to the article about Everest with a link to the article about all the other places.
- midoridensha 3y agoRight. The control group is off-planet: some aliens took a tribe of Native Americans a couple centuries ago to another planet far away. Eventually, Captain Kirk will find them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradise_Syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradise_Syndrome
- carlmr 3y ago>Even microplastics are found on Everest Funny that you mention Everest. My first thought on Everest is rainbow valley, not untouched by humanity.
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- anticensor 3y agoMore aptly described, those who wants to reserve themselves into the control group are outed from the society by those who are in the treatment group.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y agoFirst off, there are silicon sous vide bags. Second… if you are at the level that a bag with meat in it for 2 hours at 140 degrees is too risky… you had better get working on that cabin in the woods.
- productizeme93 3y agoFirst off there weren't silicon Sous Vide bags back then and the general attitude was "stick it in a plastic bag" and it will be fine. Second, this is coming from someone that works in a research lab in plastics. So pretty well educated. Anything else you want to be condescending and dismissive about? I'm sure we'd all appreciate hearing more about how you know better than the rest of us and please - make sure you lecture us about how much better you are with your logic and understanding of the world. We early await your amazing contributions. <3
- TylerE 3y agoThe sad thing about people like GP is they'll spread stuff like that for 40 years, and then become silent once they get cancer, COPD, or whatever that quite possibly was at least influenced by their lifestyle decisions. Sorta like those construction workers that are full of bravado at 25, and can barely get out of a chair at 50 because they wrecked their body with improper lifting technique.
- scotty79 3y agoI think if you work for 25 years in construction you are bound to wreck your body regardless of what you do. It's hard to not wreck your body in that span of time even if you only do yoga and meditate for that long.
- defrost 3y agoI know many people with 30+ years in construction that are physically fine (I'm ~ 60 ATM). A good technique and steady approach goes a long way and there are many jobs in construction that don't break the body - crane operator, bobcat | front end loader | etc. operator. Push up slab building have been around for decades now, if you can avoid being squashed under a giant mass of concrete (not that common) you're not going to be putting your back out (unless you're running at jobs like a bull at a gate).
- userbinator 3y agoWhat exactly were those studies on? Those bags are almost certainly polyethyelene without any additives, which is safe and has been in widespread use for almost a century. Petroleum jelly is far more reactive than PE, although it's substantially the same chemical structure, yet most of us regularly use it on our skin. If the biggest concern about sous vide is the plastic, then I think that's a very strong argument for its safety, as I'm sure you get far worse byproducts from other more common cooking processes like baking or frying.
- NovaDudely 3y agoWhile the end of your comment could be seen as 'whatabout-ism', you are right that in simply over cooking something or just adding to much salts/sugars to some foods would probably be a bigger issue.
- whatshisface 3y agoOne wonders why they go to all the trouble of these expensive scientific studies when they could just let people on HN make up answers.
- zarzavat 3y agoSalt and sugars are natural parts of our environment and salt is actually a necessary part of our diet. We have organs evolved explicitly for the purpose of maintaining homeostasis of salt and sugar, namely our kidneys and pancreas. For plastics we have no evolved tolerance.
- evilduck 3y ago> For plastics we have no evolved tolerance. Based on what evidence? What do you think happens when you overheat animal fat or oils in a cooking vessel and "season" it? It forms a plastic. We've been living and eating alongside that type of plastic since we learned to cook food as a species.
- TylerE 3y agoThere are plenty of things that are perfectly safe, even beneficial, on the skin that are harmful if eaten, injected, or inhaled.
- NovaDudely 3y agoThe more chemists I have spoken to over the years, the more I hear warnings about polymers in general. Seems as though, that in general structure simply cannot be manufactured in a way that is innocuous to our health. It is plausible that plastic will be the next tobacco/leaded gasoline. Time will tell however.
- carlmr 3y ago>It is plausible that plastic will be the next tobacco/leaded gasoline. More like lead, since it's impossible to remove the microplastics from our environment. Tobacco you can just stop, I know it's addictive and all, but at least the issue is psychological, not physical.
- neuronic 3y agoDependence on many drugs, including nicotine, is indeed very physical: https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-nicotine-e-cigarettes/nicotine-addictive https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/tobacco-n...
- Ekaros 3y agoI have wondered about carbon steel and cast iron for cooking. The common method is to "season" them for use. But that is done with fats and high heat? What is the stuff that forms? Is it also some type of polymer? It doesn't seem to survive acidic environment too well. So acids could break it down, is it actually safe to eat? Or something comparable to plastics?
- Dah00n 3y agoI have no idea about this stuff but wouldn't it be fair to say that those ... byproducts.. haven't been found in humans, so at least it isn't comparable to plastics?
- Ekaros 3y agoOr is it just not something we are searching and looking for. Then again, maybe it goes under the known carcinogenic effects when food is cooked at high temperature.