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Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

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Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Woke' is a very loaded word. A heads up that if you use it in the way you just did, people will assume certain things about you. Unless you don't care, in which case continue so that everyone knows what assumption they should make.

I don't think you can assume someones internal views by use of word, especially such a term with a complex history that means different things to different people. The way you present it seems to have more problems than the 'not care' use case.

You can debate all you want the merits of it. I am stating a fact.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an ABCD?

[flagged]

I'm an ABCD and never found it offensive , since I refer to myself as one and it's a non-issue if another ABCD uses to refer to me with that term. But it can be offensive to some if it comes from non-ABCDs. Usually in those cases, its perceived as a pejorative. (Personally it has never bothered me. But some can be sensitive to it)

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's below the turmeric whole test, and is more or less the same test.

That's described as a test for "artificial colour"

The lead is used to adulterate the product for color if I'm recalling correctly.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Born_Confused_Desi

Lol, I never knew there was a Wikipedia article for this slang acronym that we use all the time.

Wikipedia has been backfilling slang terms lately, in competition with urbandictionary and knowyourmeme. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheugy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_boomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%2BRatio etc

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#135

I don't understand how lead pigments are still legal in some parts of the world at all. What kind of things need a bright yellow color that will slowly poison you if you touch it? Also, those handheld XRF spectrometers are amazing tech. I wish they were more affordable.

Lead pigments are still legal in the United States[1], and were only banned in the EU a few years ago[2].

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434842/

[2] https://speciation.net/News/EU-court-rules-Commission-author...

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Woke' is a very loaded word. A heads up that if you use it in the way you just did, people will assume certain things about you. Unless you don't care, in which case continue so that everyone knows what assumption they should make.

I don't think you can assume someones internal views by use of word, especially such a term with a complex history that means different things to different people. The way you present it seems to have more problems than the 'not care' use case.

The quotation marks denote a very specific form of usage, one that generally implies a disregard/disrespect for those who use the word legitimately.

Using the word isn't the issue, it's How you use it.

Like using the word Jew. It's fine if you're saying "I'm a Jew" but not fine if you say "Get a load of that Jew over there".

Is that clear enough?

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#137
post #51
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall where the the Arctic expeditions slot into this saga, but for ages we understood the lemon link but we hadn't identified Vitamin C yet. So there was a moment in time where the British Royal Navy was carrying around concentrated lime juice to fight scurvy (hence, Limey). Only the vendor that made the lime juice processed it in copper vessels, destroying most of the vitamin C. It doesn't take much vitami…

There was a competing theory that scurvy was prevented by eating fresh meat, and that's easier to get in the arctic: https://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm

If it's not clear (as the article also mentions this), fresh meat does prevent scurvy! Many, if not most animals, internally produce their own vitamin C and so fresh meat is often loaded with vitamin C. Here's a table listing vitamin C content for various meats. That site separates fish from meat, so you need to change the combobox to also see those data.

[1] - https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/Vitamin-C...

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#138

tl;dr: Color matters to turmeric purchasers, and turmeric that is more vibrantly yellow typically sells for higher prices. The Stanford University team learned that this color-linked perception of quality may have started in the 1980s, when a flood interrupted the drying process, turning rhizomes brown and moldy. To mask flawed turmeric, some processors began dusting the roots with lead chromate — an orange-yellow in…

China? Grass paint is booming business in SoCal. All because they don't realize they live in a desert. People bash on Arizona for spending water when it's super dry but take a look at Southern AZ lawns vs SoCal lawns. The Southern AZ ones are much more adept to the desert.

Not at the same scale, but sure, I'm perfectly happy to call out SoCal too. Except SoCal sure as hell won't be using lead paint.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#139

tl;dr: Color matters to turmeric purchasers, and turmeric that is more vibrantly yellow typically sells for higher prices. The Stanford University team learned that this color-linked perception of quality may have started in the 1980s, when a flood interrupted the drying process, turning rhizomes brown and moldy. To mask flawed turmeric, some processors began dusting the roots with lead chromate — an orange-yellow in…

Fascinating downvotes for a perfectly accurate tl;dr. Not everyone is interested in wading through 1000 words of scene-setting before actually getting to the point.

Re: Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

#140
post #116

I don't understand how lead pigments are still legal in some parts of the world at all. What kind of things need a bright yellow color that will slowly poison you if you touch it? Also, those handheld XRF spectrometers are amazing tech. I wish they were more affordable.

A lot of oil paint for fine art contains heavy metals.

And a layer of varnish over the top so that you can’t even touch the paint, even if you are rude enough to try.
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