Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Plastics are poisoning us

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 528 posts

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#131

Post by nnf »

mailund wrote: post #99
friend_and_foe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its all still greenwashing. "You can save the world without even getting up from your chouch!" is the sales pitch of the day. I'm far from what you'd consider an environmentalist in the sense of the current vernacular and I have a ridiculously low carbon footprint (my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea) and very low rate of disposal of plastics. All it takes is a handful of lifes…

I'd be super interested to hear what steps you are taking to have such an electricity bill!

I have similarly low electric bills for much of the year by way of solar panels and Powerwalls. The solar power is enough to power the whole house (with all electric HVAC & appliances, and no natural gas), charge the batteries, charge the car, and export the excess to the grid. Most nights the batteries supply enough power to make it through the night, even with the A/C or heat running intermittently. Only when the batteries are drained to their reserve limit do we have to import electricity from the grid, which we sometimes go for days without having to do.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#132

Post by elric »

abwizz wrote: post #32
sacnoradhq wrote: post #10

Much of the 80's recycling movement was funded as greenwashing by the plastics industry. The lie was that plastic was a "closed cycle" and "infinitely reusable." In the late 90's/early 00's, "biodegradable plastic" was another lie. We need to ban all materials that persist with poisonous degradation products. Most bottles should then transition back to glass or to enamel-lined (not BPA) cans. Glass persists for thous…

i like to walk barefeet, so i worry about glass pollution all the time

Presumably, you have eyes, and can easily avoid glass pollution. That's what I do when I go around barefoot. I've stepped in/on all kinds of nasty shit, but never on anything sharp.

If you don't have functioning eyes, I apologize, and imagine being blind and barefoot is a tricky combination.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#133

Post by hospitalJail »

The word 'Plastic' needs to die. Instead we should be more specific on the type of plastic.

Teflon, PLA, ABS, resins, foams, etc... are all plastics, but they are so unrelated outside their long chains, its terrible to stereotype them all into one category.

You aren't going to get cancer from PLA or Teflon, but rather the manufacturing process. You can eat these plastics as far as I know and you'd be fine.

Eat something with BPA in it, you are probably going to have a bad time.

Maybe the solution is better labeling. I know its near impossible to have perfect consistency in plastic manufacturing(I worked in foam, mind boggling we consider testing these foams one time, and considered it the same foam for the next 8 years). However, knowing precursors, additives, and potentially process would make a huge difference in our ability to track problems.

EDIT: Someone called out PLA as potentially dangerous. After looking it up, I'm skeptical of the oxygen double bond attached to a carbon attached to an oxygen. The wikipedia article had no health concerns, but that carbon atom seems ripe for reaction. Let me change my answer on PLA to 'I don't know'.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#134

Post by bzzzt »

nnf wrote: post #131
mailund wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be super interested to hear what steps you are taking to have such an electricity bill!

I have similarly low electric bills for much of the year by way of solar panels and Powerwalls. The solar power is enough to power the whole house (with all electric HVAC & appliances, and no natural gas), charge the batteries, charge the car, and export the excess to the grid. Most nights the batteries supply enough power to make it through the night, even with the A/C or heat running intermittently. Only when the b…

So your 'easy step' is to live in a place where this is possible? Is the entire world welcome to live next to you?

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#135

Post by bitwize »

sacnoradhq wrote: post #10

Much of the 80's recycling movement was funded as greenwashing by the plastics industry. The lie was that plastic was a "closed cycle" and "infinitely reusable." In the late 90's/early 00's, "biodegradable plastic" was another lie. We need to ban all materials that persist with poisonous degradation products. Most bottles should then transition back to glass or to enamel-lined (not BPA) cans. Glass persists for thous…

Anything that doesn't involve massive reduction of the human population and a reversion to preindustrial lifestyles is greenwashing.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#136

Post by littlestymaar »

smellyshaft1 wrote: post #87
pvaldes wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

8 -> copper is toxic. People with some genetic traits will suffer cirrhosis and shouldn't use it for water storage. Cooking on copper pots specially should be avoided. Iron and Aluminum are safer.

Aluminum is not safer than copper

It's almost like saying that Covid is not less dangerous than the plague…

They both have issues, but the latter is still worse than the former.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#137

Post by myshpa »

hospitalJail wrote: post #133

The word 'Plastic' needs to die. Instead we should be more specific on the type of plastic. Teflon, PLA, ABS, resins, foams, etc... are all plastics, but they are so unrelated outside their long chains, its terrible to stereotype them all into one category. You aren't going to get cancer from PLA or Teflon, but rather the manufacturing process. You can eat these plastics as far as I know and you'd be fine. Eat someth…

Plastic overuse/overproduction needs to die.

What Microplastics Might Be Doing to Our Intestines https://now.tufts.edu/2023/06/09/what-microplastics-might-be...

Nanoplastic Ingestion Causes Neurological Deficits https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/nanoplastic-inges...

Microplastics can stick in human airways, new study finds https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/microplastics...

Many BPA-Free Plastics Are Toxic. Some Are Worse Than BPA https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/many-bpa-free-plasti...

Plastic pollution is so bad for animals it now has a disease name — 'plasticosis' https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/research-ocean-plastic-birds...

Microplastics found in every sample of water taken during the Ocean Race https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/05/micropla...

Secret industry documents reveal that makers of PFAS 'forever chemicals' covered up their health dangers https://phys.org/news/2023-05-secret-industry-documents-reve...

Forever Toxic: The science on health threats from plastic recycling https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/reports/forever-toxic/

Microplastics detected in meat, milk and blood of farm animals https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/08/micropla...

Yet Another Problem With Recycling: It Spews Microplastics https://www.wired.com/story/yet-another-problem-with-recycli...

Tiny Polystyrene Particles Detected in the Brain Just Two Hours After Ingestion https://neurosciencenews.com/polystyrene-brain-23079/

60% of home ‘compostable’ plastic doesn’t fully break down, ending up in our soil https://blog.frontiersin.org/2022/11/03/60-of-home-compostab...

(... thousands others)

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#138

Post by simiones »

okeuro49 wrote: post #50
friend_and_foe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its all still greenwashing. "You can save the world without even getting up from your chouch!" is the sales pitch of the day. I'm far from what you'd consider an environmentalist in the sense of the current vernacular and I have a ridiculously low carbon footprint (my electric bill 9 months out of the year is $2 a month to give you an idea) and very low rate of disposal of plastics. All it takes is a handful of lifes…

> All it takes is a handful of lifestyle changes I don't think this for a second. I think the only way it will stop if equivalent biodegradable materials can be made to replace single use plastic.

One important note here is that one of the reasons we use plastic so much is because it is not biodegradable. Any material that would replace plastic packaging, for example, has to at least be less biodegradable than the contents itself. For food that's probably relatively easy, but less so for many other items.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#139

Post by permo-w »

abwizz wrote: post #109
Brotkrumen wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"we can't require eco-friendly alternatives to plastics because people litter" was not on my bingo sheet for today...

thoughts and prayers for your bingo, but i consider myself part of the environment and thus object to suffering from more externalities of a technology that i consider partyly inferior (glass bottles are a lot heavier). the argument that glass is better in terms of decomposition when littered stands, but does not tell the whole story. (not unlike guns are good for self defense but the externalities paint a totally di…

when you choose to deliberately expose yourself to vulnerability and walk barefoot, you take that responsibility onto yourself and can't blame others for what you stand on. the same would be true in nature

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#140

Post by jf22 »

amake wrote: post #15
swalling wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people have microplastics in their body, and even babies in the womb are being exposed ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202... ). The most remote, otherwise pristine environments have microplastics due to atmospheric transport ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36868287/ ). It is too late.

I suppose it was too late to ban lead from gasoline because everyone alive at the time had already been exposed.

I think the person meant it is too late to avoid consequences, but not too late to take action.
Post reply on HN