Live data from Hacker News

Turmeric’s unexpected link to lead poisoning in Bangladesh

stanmed.stanford.edu

181–190 of 217 posts

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

#181
post #22

I'm a little surprised at the initial confusion about the source of lead, or perhaps it's the way the article has been written. As someone who grew up in India, our school textbooks in the 90s had a list of common food adulterants, and turmeric adulteration with lead chromate was common knowledge to middle schoolers. I recall the curriculum included how to detect adulteration with simple at home tests. After turmeric…

What sort of test would you do for this? Did you have to buy a test kit?

Another comment has this link to an Indian government website with simple tests for various food adulteration: https://eatrightindia.gov.in/dart/

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

#182
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the person asking wants to know how the word is seen by others, which is great in my opinion. Unlikely. Their tell is: these “woke” times

Maybe he didn't mean that much by it. Different people, different countries, different contexts. Specially online, we definitely need to give the benefit of the doubt. A friend of mine, who doesn't speak English very well, thought the n word was a completely fine way to reference your mate. He was mortified to know what he was actually saying.

Perhaps you're unfamiliar with how the term woke is currently used vis a vis American politics. It's a pejorative typically used as the foundation of a disingenuous argument about being respectful towards others or as a way of demonizing anything you disagree with.

Woke was used in line with its most common meaning and scare quotes were added. It wasn't a mistake and the context was made explicit (offending people). It was used out of ignorance, sure, but not the kind of naive ignorance you're suggesting. It was used as a dog whistle.

Unlike "the n word" which, in a familiar context, is used as a term of endearment in some groups, woke as an adjective has long since ceased to be used as anything other than a derogatory term used to vilify people you dislike.

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

#183

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.

Grass lawns are way more common in Phoenix than Tucson, for whatever reason.

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

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an ABCD?

[flagged]

You can call yourself whatever want, as long as the title doesn't contain an insult to someone else.

You can call someone else anything they consent to, even late for dinner.

The only thing insulting in ABCD is "confused".

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

#185
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether or not something is offensive almost always depends on context. Knowing your context requires careful listening and respect for those around you. This is true regardless of whether or not you use one particular term or not. If you do not intend to be respectful, then was there ever any issue in the first place? Your disrespect will be conveyed regardless. If you do intend to be respectful, then you will know…

> If you do intend to be respectful, then you will know if using it is offensive or not in your given context. It's very easy to intend to be respectful but misread the context. Also, there are words that are so taboo they are not ok in any context. I find it particularly hard to navigate the English taboos from a non native perspective. I believe the person asking wants to know how the word is seen by others, which…

Direct communication about sensitive topic, and even non-sensitive topics, is offensive or at least rude in many to most cultures.

Saying "I want the ketchup" at the kitchen table is generally considered rude.

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

#186
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he didn't mean that much by it. Different people, different countries, different contexts. Specially online, we definitely need to give the benefit of the doubt. A friend of mine, who doesn't speak English very well, thought the n word was a completely fine way to reference your mate. He was mortified to know what he was actually saying.

Perhaps you're unfamiliar with how the term woke is currently used vis a vis American politics. It's a pejorative typically used as the foundation of a disingenuous argument about being respectful towards others or as a way of demonizing anything you disagree with. Woke was used in line with its most common meaning and scare quotes were added. It wasn't a mistake and the context was made explicit (offending people).…

I disagree. Stay woke.

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

#188

This article screams "white american saviour" WHO in 2023 writes like this?? > Food Safety authority representatives, flanked by soldiers in camouflage uniforms, magenta berets and guns slung over their shoulders, strode down the center of a busy street market in Dhaka, the capital city. The crowds parted. > Men riding three-wheeled rickshaws pulled over. Street vendors stopped stirring their aromatic curries. The sp…

I was also uncomfortable reading the article. It presents the Western scientist as the only one who knows that lead is dangerous, instead of grappling with the material economic issues at play.

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

#189

This article screams "white american saviour" WHO in 2023 writes like this?? > Food Safety authority representatives, flanked by soldiers in camouflage uniforms, magenta berets and guns slung over their shoulders, strode down the center of a busy street market in Dhaka, the capital city. The crowds parted. > Men riding three-wheeled rickshaws pulled over. Street vendors stopped stirring their aromatic curries. The sp…

I was also uncomfortable reading the article. It presents the Western scientist as the only one who knows that lead is dangerous, instead of grappling with the material economic issues at play.

The story makes it sound like the American scientists never asked local officials or scientists about lead exposure and where it might be coming from. Was fingerprinting isotopes used instead of cooperating and learning from the people being affected?

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

#190
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you agree that 'woke' is a loaded word? Do you agree that by using that word in that way it signals a certain type of political/ideological viewpoint? Do you agree that if someone did not want to signal that viewpoint it they should know?

There was a period of time where self-described woke people identified themselves as woke, and now there's a period of time where people that don't like woke people mock them as woke, and other people just use it as a descriptor, and it all overlaps, and also all sorts of people have a good idea of the corpus of what woke means. At the very least, it's a useful word to refer to the concept it is meant to capture.

I think there's a cultural thing where once a group's use of the word is "outed" to the public the in-group doesn't like it anymore. That's how it makes me feel seeing you react like this- you're going out of your way to be on the bleeding edge of in-group linguistic fashion.

Post reply on HN