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

Poison, Poison Everywhere

loeber.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 211 posts

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#181

Post by IAmBroom »

philipp-gayret wrote: post #115
gambiting wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of glyphosate is that it deteriorates very very quickly, and your oats should contain exactly zero of it. Obviously that's the theory, I'd love someone to test it. But in US wheat is routinely dessicated with glyphosate so either their bread is giving everyone cancer, or the compound does actually break down as expected. Or maybe it's somewhere in between. Either way, it's like the article said - it's…

What is "very very quickly"? From Wikipedia: > The reported half-life of glyphosate in soil varies from two to 197 days with a typical field half-life of 47 days being suggested.[56] Soil and climate conditions affect glyphosate's persistence in soil. The median half-life of glyphosate in water varies from a few days to 91 days.[56] At a site in Texas, half-life was as little as three days. A site in Iowa had a half-…

> it certainly is giving everyone parkinsons.

That's a personal opinion. Actual scientific research is divided, and therefore anything but "certainly".

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#182

Post by IAmBroom »

ch4s3 wrote: post #56
lr4444lr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Independent lab testing for contaminants and actual active ingredient levels vs. what's stated. They also publish summaries of studies on the active ingredients that test the effectiveness against claimed therapeutic value. (It's depressing how few studies actually show benefit over placebo.)

> It's depressing how few studies actually show benefit over placebo Look at it another way, isn’t it good to know you probably don’t need suplements.

Also, not surprising. The odds of snake oil actually curing anything are likely to hover just above zero (while bad side effects hover much higher).

If it isn't proven with multiple, independent studies, it is snake oil.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#183

Post by IAmBroom »

joenot443 wrote: post #163
teddyh wrote: post #6

Empowering individuals to solve collective problems rarely work. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31178680 > The appropriate solution is legislation.

> Empowering individuals to solve collective problems rarely work. In Canadian elementary school in the 2000s, we spent a long time talking about our carbon footprint. The hope was that by carpooling and turning off lights when you left the room, we might still have an Earth to live on by 2030. Even at the time I felt a little patronized. Having read enough literature on the subject now the math does become clear: we…

But I bought a stainless steel reusable straw!

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#184

Post by IAmBroom »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #37
teddyh wrote: post #6

Empowering individuals to solve collective problems rarely work. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31178680 > The appropriate solution is legislation.

That's not a solution. There is no practical solution for this, and has not been for the millennia on human history; it's only been in the recent decades where we've been able the hallucinate about knowing about toxins in our daily lives. Legislation is just paper, you have no enforcement mechanism beyond what you already have currently: suing companies on a case by case basis.

I'm familiar with BSABSVR, but this is GNDASVA (Government Never Does Anything So Vote Anarchist).

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#185

Post by IAmBroom »

throwaway290 wrote: post #75
nbngeorcjhe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

how much of total legislation is never enforced? probably at least third It's pointless without people caring.

People care when they are personally and noticeably harmed. And the court system provides for redress, when laws are broken. Very imperfectly, but it is there.

A substantial portion of that 2/3 of the law is never enforced because it's easier to just go ahead and obey, than to fend off class action lawsuits.

Another portion is actually irrelevant. The safety of my next airplane trip is not actually affected by how many barefoot people walk over a threshold.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#186

Post by IAmBroom »

coppsilgold wrote: post #89

Bloodletting is a solution. Donate blood as frequently as they allow you. Plasma donation works even better (higher frequency) if you trust the machines and the process. Sadly, it's not a complete solution as some harmful substances bio-accumulate in other tissues. A benefit may be had regardless as some substances leach back into the blood if the concentration gradient is sufficient.

Blood is less than 10% of your weight. Donating 100% every month (!) would only reduce your exposure by the same, a trivial amount in dosage variation.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#187

Post by IAmBroom »

decimalenough wrote: post #8
arthurbrown wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that the high calcium content in their water supply formed a lining on the inside of the pipes which largely prevented any exposure.

They doubled down on the exposure by adding lead to wine though. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6750289/#:~:text=The%20custo...

A bit of a reverse tax, that. The poor didn't drink adultered wine; they drank aqueduct water.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#188

Post by IAmBroom »

koliber wrote: post #77
torcete wrote: post #4

If you have ever visited the ruins of Pompeii, you might have seen all the lead pipes that provided water to the city. I wonder how that affected the health of the citizens back then.

Less than the volcano.

That's cherry picking. Most days the volcano didn't bother anyone...

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#189

Post by BeFlatXIII »

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…

> unless you're regularly eating your headphones

Bunnies everywhere put on notice.

Re: Poison, Poison Everywhere

#190

Post by BeFlatXIII »

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.

Don't knock Tide Pods 'til you've tried them.
Post reply on HN