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Poison, Poison Everywhere

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141–150 of 211 posts

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#141

Post by pjc50 »

avidiax wrote: post #105
IlikeKitties wrote: post #66

> All the exhaust fumes pooled and hung in the air there. And these were the 1970s: literally all the gasoline was leaded.1 This was lead poisoning. Over the years, the children were getting brain damage. And if you live in a city today it's only marginally better. Remember that everyone selfishly driving their car is choosing to poison you rather than dealing with public transport. They give you lung cancer from the…

The prisoner isn't a horrible human because he solves his dilemma by defecting.

No, I'm fairly sure he is, and this is an important question for societies to inculcate in people.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#142

Post by Amezarak »

timr wrote: post #126
slhck wrote: post #123

The Austrian consumer protection association has just released results on tests of headphones: https://vki.at/Presse/PA-Kopfhoerer-2025 (German article), and found that 40% contained possibly harmful chemicals, including the parts that touch your body. It's wild. I have children, and I spent a great time researching foods, bottles, toys, etc., but I would've never thought much about doubting the (big brand) consumer…

That article is a classic example of a prevalent error in this line of commentary: indiscriminately taking a "possibly harmful chemical", translating it to a totally different context (say, touching it instead of eating it ), and then assuming that any interaction with the chemical is therefore bad. The article specifically calls out pthalates and bisphenols (both common in plastics), but there's absolutely no reason…

Children eat and chew on lots of things you’d never imagine, even up into elementary and middle school years. A smaller number of adults do too.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#143

Post by anal_reactor »

lkuty wrote: post #93
weregiraffe wrote: post #78

What's worse, damage from lead or damage from constant obsession about lead?

This raises the interesting point of finding a balance between knowing/searching and letting go when it comes to health. Lead is a major one but obession about health can lead to anxiety, stress. I think that finding the major factors that affect health is what matters (sunlight, sleep, walking, cooking with stainless steel, etc.) and letting go of all the minor details. This is an issue that has been close to my hea…

At some point you're bound to reach the point of diminishing returns

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#144

Post by pjc50 »

noduerme wrote: post #46

Amazon is so completely irresponsible for their marketplace that recently, shopping for a glass oral thermometer (because the digital ones suck) I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. These were still for sale. I feel like even 10 years ago, online marketplaces would have taken measures to prevent stuff like t…

> Amazon is so completely irresponsible for their marketplace that recently, shopping for a glass oral thermometer (because the digital ones suck) I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. These were still for sale.

I did wonder about how this kind of thing was handled in the UK, and (a) Amazon will happily offer a mercury thermometer for sale and (b) it has been illegal to sell mercury thermometers in the UK since 2009.

The absolute poster child for ubiquitous illegal toxic products though? Disposable vapes.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#145

Post by timr »

Amezarak wrote: post #142
timr wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article is a classic example of a prevalent error in this line of commentary: indiscriminately taking a "possibly harmful chemical", translating it to a totally different context (say, touching it instead of eating it ), and then assuming that any interaction with the chemical is therefore bad. The article specifically calls out pthalates and bisphenols (both common in plastics), but there's absolutely no reason…

Children eat and chew on lots of things you’d never imagine, even up into elementary and middle school years. A smaller number of adults do too.

So don’t give them your headphones to chew on.

Let me just save you the effort of further rounds of responses here: if you chew on plastic, you will be exposed to the chemicals in plastic. If you’re truly worried about this, don’t buy plastic items.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#146

Post by flotzam »

cassepipe wrote: post #132
mpclark wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard that farmers ‘spray off’ the crop to kill it to make harvesting easier.

Is this a dirty hack or an intended use case ?

A dirty intended use case...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_desiccation#Systemic_desi...

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#147

Post by timr »

slhck wrote: post #128
timr wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article is a classic example of a prevalent error in this line of commentary: indiscriminately taking a "possibly harmful chemical", translating it to a totally different context (say, touching it instead of eating it ), and then assuming that any interaction with the chemical is therefore bad. The article specifically calls out pthalates and bisphenols (both common in plastics), but there's absolutely no reason…

Totally agree with you - the dermal exposure is a different pathway, and that could be more clearly mentioned. The fact that these materials are present are not automatically hazards (but they do state that!). I also wouldn't automatically assume that the products marked as red are not safe to use. For me it's just interesting to see that some manufacturers can do without, or less of those components.

Well, plastics generally require plasticizers. The Bisphenol A kerfuffle has largely resulted in the use of different plasticizers, which has in turn caused the sort of people who are fearful of chemicals to expand their definitions of “harmful” to include those new chemicals. It’s a never-ending cycle, but the evidence never really gets any better.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#148

Post by everdrive »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #116
noduerme wrote: post #46

Amazon is so completely irresponsible for their marketplace that recently, shopping for a glass oral thermometer (because the digital ones suck) I stumbled on reviews with photos showing products that had no mercury inside and actual blobs of mercury stuck to the tip that goes in your mouth. These were still for sale. I feel like even 10 years ago, online marketplaces would have taken measures to prevent stuff like t…

I've thought about that too, but in the end, price always wins - this is why the Amazons and Walmarts of the world have out-competed local small businesses. The major flaw in your example is that you have a site saying product X is good and trusted, but people will then go look online for a competitor that sells it for cheaper. This is where capitalism clashes with consumer rights / safety. What should be the case is…

>The major flaw in your example is that you have a site saying product X is good and trusted, but people will then go look online for a competitor that sells it for cheaper.

Product X is good and trusted, except:

  - due to mixed inventory you were sent product Y, which is poison

  - product X has a complex supply chain, and it was previously good and trusted, and now it's poison and you had no idea anything changed

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#149

Post by kgwxd »

lr4444lr wrote: post #3

This is precisely why I happily pay for an annual subscription to ConsumerLab[0]. It's largely just for supplements and a few functional foods, but with a tiny staff they are doing more work to help the public on the unregulated medicine market than the entire FDA, IMHO. [0] https://www.consumerlab.com/

I don't see anything new here. How is it not just another "quality" seal that can be bought through some under-the-table deal?

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#150

Post by omgbear »

I wonder how much this is causing the worldwide swing toward authoritarianism. Lead exposure can cause lower conscientiousness, lower agreeableness, and higher neuroticism.[1]

Especially considering the age of people who actually vote and who the politicians in power are (at least in the U.S.)

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8307752/

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