I see a lot of comments being made on here that are highly speculative of actual Asian American culture coming from users who - from their post histories - are not Asian. It's a lot of hearsay, and none of it is lived experience. The views that we "smoke behind our parents backs", or "burn a lot of incense", or "cook with a wok" are dated and archaic takes on what our lives are like. To the users making these comments - have you ever been in an Asian household?
Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
101–110 of 161 posts
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most likely this. Mustard Oil is critical for South Asian cooking and is labeled as "not for consumption" in the US. I also wonder how much is because of immigration and the pollution in the old country (even countries like South Korea and SG have horrid AQIs)
that wouldn't be related to mustard gas, would it?
Mustard oil and mustard gas are only related by color. Mustard oil is made from mustard seed. Mustard gas contains sulfur and nitrogen mustards which are yellow.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are "society-over-individual values" really such an obviously bad thing?
Oh, absolutely, and it can be seen for example in suicide rates [1], or the weird state of Japanese criminal justice where prosecutors will only go for nailed-shut cases so that they don't "lose face" (while society as a whole suffers) [2], not to mention the entire issue surrounding "forced confessions". [1] https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Youth-suicide... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_ju…
yes of course, the enlightened Americans are so much better at handling crime. pointing at western justice systems to say that western values are superior - this must be satire?
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm assuming they are referring to "traditional old Asian culture" aka the combination of old patriarchal/sexist beliefs, a toxic workplace/exploitation culture, society-over-individual attitudes, and that topped up with a healthy dose of racism to xenophobia (depending on the country). I mean, some of this is rich to talk about given I'm European and most Western countries share a lot of these traits, but from what…
A shallow and superficial comment in a subthread that took the wrong turn. Casually applying nasty labels in an act of self-loathing from a fellow German. Oh no, our toxic workplaces, truly funny. Our beloved individualism that has little regard for society as a whole left, consequences of that showing up more and more, how dare the old asian guy hold on to the old ways. "Xenophobia" in the face of mass immigration t…
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Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are "society-over-individual values" really such an obviously bad thing?
Oh, absolutely, and it can be seen for example in suicide rates [1], or the weird state of Japanese criminal justice where prosecutors will only go for nailed-shut cases so that they don't "lose face" (while society as a whole suffers) [2], not to mention the entire issue surrounding "forced confessions". [1] https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Youth-suicide... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_ju…
By definition, negative side effects that can be cherry-picked are more numerous and pronunced in an Individualist society, as the very point of Collectivism is to steer the crowds away from trouble, while Individualism tolerates a wider range of individual tragedies for the potential upside.
Your examples were not well chosen anyway, as their relation to collectivism seems dubious, and US prosecutors also have high conviction rates without trial through threat of big punishment.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#10612% of Asian American men smoke compared with 2.6% of women. So non smoking Asian women are more likely to live with a smoking man. Could second hand smoking exposure be a factor in this? https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/impact-of-to...
Anecdotal but can confirm that my Asian dad smokes a pack a day, with the window open, and it pretty much permeates the apartment, and we've all had issues with lung health. There's no doubt in my mind this is a huge factor. Sidenote but I haven't missed my father since I left home. Traditional old Asian men are possibly the worst humans ever.
I remember when I was a kid one of my friends telling me he hated his parents. How old are you in the 8th grade? 13, 14? That's how old we were. I'm sure I didn't say anything - what could I say? - but it seemed totally incomprehensible to me. It would be as if he had said he hated himself. How could you?
My parents aren't saints. They're no less human then I am. Like my wife and my kid they're people that are so easy to forgive. It's so easy to rationalize away anything they do. It's just tiny bit easier to forgive myself then them and I don't see how it could be otherwise.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
They use caiziyou, AKA roasted rapeseed oil, which has a high level of erucic acid, similar to mustard oil. (Rapeseed is a member of the mustard family. Canola is low-erucic acid rapeseed oil.)
Rapeseed oil for cooking is a staple in Germany. If erucic acid or its thermal products are the cause, there would also be many cases of lung cancer in Germany.
I think this is a naming thing, canola is an English word for a variety of rapeseed, and IIUC Germany uses the same food-safe version.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#108Wasn't there something about some seed oil fumes being toxic? Maybe it's related to some cooking practices. Highly speculative but the cooking oil toxicity is well-known. [edit] found this with a quick search, seems relevant: Exposure to Cooking Oil Fumes and Oxidative Damages: A Longitudinal Study in Chinese Military Cooks https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029104/ [edit 2] and indeed the article mentions…
Very empirical, but earlier this year I was talking to a Thai street food cook who mentioned he was scared of getting cancer from the cooking fumes, because he knew many people who were also cooks and got ill.
N95s will definitely help in this situation.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#109I have a bizarre theory that 1 - 1.5 packs of cigarettes per year is actually beneficial for health. This theory has two parts: - small amounts of nicotine occsaionnaly are excellent for the brain - the innoculatory effects of small occasional acute exposure to toxins and carcinogens preemptively activates and trains your body and its immune system to respond to the types of things that cause damage. Basically by act…
I have a similar theory about car accidents. I get in one every couple of years because I think that I'll be able react more quickly to them if I'd never experienced it at all. :-).
Slightly more seriously, I hope your cigarette plan works out for you.
Re: Asian American women are getting lung cancer despite never smoking
#110Wasn't there something about some seed oil fumes being toxic? Maybe it's related to some cooking practices. Highly speculative but the cooking oil toxicity is well-known. [edit] found this with a quick search, seems relevant: Exposure to Cooking Oil Fumes and Oxidative Damages: A Longitudinal Study in Chinese Military Cooks https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029104/ [edit 2] and indeed the article mentions…
Except that it doesn't seem like Asian cooking practices have changed significantly in recent years.