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Plastics are poisoning us

newyorker.com

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Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#191

Post by flavius29663 »

Gigachad wrote: post #68
mjamesaustin wrote: post #6

People consider it a shocking or impossible policy to ban single use plastics, but future generations will look back on plastics the same way we do at lead paint or asbestos. We're poisoning ourselves and our planet.

My city banned single use plastics ages ago. Plastic bags banned over a decade ago now. Plastic cutlery and containers banned in 2020. People freak out at the start and complain but no one cares and life continues on. Personally I bring my own bags to the supermarket since the paper ones are a bit annoying, but its trivial to just stuff one in my pocket before I leave.

> Plastic cutlery and containers banned

What did they replace takeout containers with? Where I live, they replaced them with "paper" containers that are lined with teflon...

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#192

Post by Filligree »

hospitalJail wrote: post #165
MagicMoonlight wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know PLA is safe? I'm sure you would have thought lead was safe at the time

Thank you for bringing this up, I may be incorrect. I looked at the formula and that Oxygen double bond attached to a carbon with another oxygen bond... yikes! I have no idea why this is stable. It appears stable, but you wonder about things like UV light, exposure to some cation, etc... Well, seems like I have reading to do. (Chem engineer here, I feel like its my responsibility, similar to how programmers read open…

UV light absolutely destroys it, and PLA isn’t exactly stable. Indoors it seems fine.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#193

Post by hackernoteng »

Glad to see this is finally coming out in main stream media. Its been well known for decades among the so called "conspiracy theorists". Same thing with pesticide/herbicide being endocrine disrupting and cancer causing chemicals. Hopefully this type of thing start to get as much visibility and legislation as the so called "climate crisis" does.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#194

Post by yadingus »

iso1631 wrote: post #183
stef25 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's microplastics which are now absolutely everywhere. Apparently we consume a credit card's worth of plastic per month. Nobody should feel ok about consuming a drink that's got a ground up credit card in it, yet that's what we're doing. In Asia especially it's crazy how plastic is often used - you go to a 7/11 to buy a cold drink, they put it in TWO flimsy plastic bags which you throw in the first trash can you…

> There's microplastics which are now absolutely everywhere. Apparently we consume a credit card's worth of plastic per month. Nobody should feel ok about consuming a drink that's got a ground up credit card in it, yet that's what we're doing. And what's the effect? We've been doing this for decades?

I think you severely underestimate not only how long effects can take to show, but how long and complicated it can be to fund good long term scientific studies.

There's this belief that if something has an effect, it'll just show up magically on the news after the minimum amount of time, without taking into account all the hurdles people have to go through to research. Even if you didn't have powerful companies with interests against the research being published, it would be complicated.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#195

Post by luxuryballs »

GuB-42 wrote: post #125
rTX5CMRXIfFG wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you actually read the article before commenting: > The hazards of ingesting large pieces of plastic are pretty straightforward; they include choking and perforation of the intestinal tract. Animals that fill their guts with plastics eventually starve to death. The risks posed by microplastics are subtler, but not, Simon argues, any less serious. Plastics are made from by-products of oil and gas refining; many of t…

I was actually reacting the the hyperbolic title "plastics are poisoning us". And while the article is more nuanced and rather well researched, the subtext essentially "ban plastics", and judging by most of the comments here, that's what most people took away. My argument is essentially that while it is perfectly normal and expected that researchers study the health risks associated with plastics, and that it is just…

How could even the most extreme of plastic bans be worse? I imagine not being able to cheat death here and there as the most significant loss, other than what, less convenience? The world wasn’t significantly worse without plastic.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#196

Post by cynicalsecurity »

realshadow wrote: post #11

I became a minimist to save the planet as much as i could. Its easier than any one could think you know. Here is what i have been doing for a decade and would receommend 1. Reusing plastic bags (i love cotton bags but not ideal). Fold and keep one or two in your pocket before you leave home 2. Support and use light software so you dont need to upgrade your gadgets (12y laptop i use) 3. Prepare and eat home cooked mea…

[flagged]

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#197

Post by myshpa »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #180
myshpa wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The population growth trend is already declining in many (western) countries and is projected to go down in a few decades max everywhere. Best contraceptive is education, prosperity and urbanization. IMHO the best way to limit our negative impacts is - stop exploiting other countries (there are almost no poor countries, only overexploited ones) - urbanization ( https://i.redd.it/fl28yusb1r5b1.jpg ) - abandoning fossi…

Good luck trying to convince Russia or China to stop exploiting other countries, abandon fossil fuels or stop animal agriculture. Here is the unsolvable problem of the climate activism. They can't save the climate, but they are capable of destroying their own homeland, playing right into the hands of those authoritarian monsters.

Don't look up!

> Good luck trying to convince Russia or China

Whataboutism. Best way to avoid doing anything.

> the unsolvable problem of the climate activism. They can't save the climate, but they are capable of destroying their own homeland

That's incredibly foolish.

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#198

Post by oezi »

Retric wrote: post #143
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…

Teflon Aka Polytetrafluoroethylene cookware represents a health hazard. The stuff contains a great deal of Florine and breaks down at 300C, but that’s not purely binary instead it becomes increasingly unstable as your approach the temperature. Further no manufacturing process is perfect, I wouldn’t therefore assume eating significant quantities would be safe. That said, it’s generally used as a coating rather than a…

I understand that Teflon might be a hazard in pans but feel like it reduces the amount of burned food in contrast to steel/iron pans so much for me that I hope it is a net gain.

(sorry in advance for all who want to suggest iron skillets. I can't make them work in daily use.)

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#199

Post by hammeiam »

realshadow wrote: post #11

I became a minimist to save the planet as much as i could. Its easier than any one could think you know. Here is what i have been doing for a decade and would receommend 1. Reusing plastic bags (i love cotton bags but not ideal). Fold and keep one or two in your pocket before you leave home 2. Support and use light software so you dont need to upgrade your gadgets (12y laptop i use) 3. Prepare and eat home cooked mea…

This sounds like a good life regardless of the health risks of plastics

Re: Plastics are poisoning us

#200

Post by elric »

hackernoteng wrote: post #193

Glad to see this is finally coming out in main stream media. Its been well known for decades among the so called "conspiracy theorists". Same thing with pesticide/herbicide being endocrine disrupting and cancer causing chemicals. Hopefully this type of thing start to get as much visibility and legislation as the so called "climate crisis" does.

I've never heard of anyone referring to this as a "conspiracy theory". The toxicity of many types of plastics has been common knowledge for a very long time. Same with pesticides/herbicides. This has been discussed in "main stream media" for years, probably decades. There have even been various legislative attempts to curb their usage or improve their safe disposal.
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